Family History. Hat Creek Ranch.

On their Dad's side, our kids have history at Hat Creek Ranch. In fact, Great-Grandma Pat has stuff on loan there and the record books trace part of our lineage. Amazing stuff really. We took a day trip out there with Grandma Brookes to explore and find out more:

 The Lodge

 

We arrived. Pics out front. In the top left there is a pic of our ancestor Donald MacLean .

 

Grandma brought old photo albums with her and the curator was very excited to look through them. 

 

 

A great pic of Keiran and his cousin Brody. 

 

Some fun!

 

 

Haha!

 

 

Checking out the Tee Pee where you can actually stay in for the night!

 

 Blacksmith Shop.

 

The blacksmith shop. 

 

 

The kids learned how nails were made. Keiran gets one to take home :) 

 

Pounding out another nail. 

 

 The Native Village

 

Keiran checking out the Native village. 

 

Trying out hand drumming. 

 

This was our favorite shelter- a traditional winter lodge.

 

 

Inside the winter lodge. 

 

Drying rack. 

 

Haha. 

 

How they made tea. 

 

 

 Various cooking methods.

 Arts and crafts.

 

The girls lodge. 

 Dad and Finn. 

The Horse Barn

 The Miner's Camp

 Gold panning. 

 The boys' treasures. 

The Old House

 Antique stove. 

 These are actually antique dishes that belong to Great-Grandma. 

Transportation

Horse and buggy.

 Riding in the carriage. 

 Managers

 The McLeans are the ones we are related to. 

The Farm Life

 Feeding the chickens.

 The pigs got to eat too.

Back for some Hunting

 Bow and arrow practice. 

There was so much to see and learn about that we plan on going back again....

Camping.

We bought a trailer. Hooray! This was all of our kids' first time out camping.

 We are ready. Our home on wheels :) :) 

Gem gets top bunk. We ended up altering this and Dad built a rail to hold her in. 

 

Aiden reading library books. 

Keiran, of course, needs to figure out how everything works. Trying out the blinds. 

 

Lac Le Jeune was the best campground for biking, as the roads are flat and long. Aiden, Gemma, and Keiran rode their bikes whenever they had the chance, from sun up to sun down. Mom took them on a couple rides down to the lake too.

This is the second year that the kids have participated in the Learn to Fish program. Great fun!

Aiden fishing off the shore. 

Gemma fishing off the dock. 

 

A very serious Keiran, concentrating on his fishing. 

 

Beach time. This guy loves to dig in the dirt. Not much for swimming yet but he did a little. 

 

Gemma taking a break from swimming to warm up.

 

 A view of the lake as Mom walked by. The kids did a pond study this day and searched for water bugs, leaches, shrimp, etc.

Mr.Finn having a bath. Just for fun.

Summer Living

This summer was full. The next few posts will prove it. Enjoy a medley of our pics!

 

Aiden building Lego creations from his birthday. 

 

Canada Day arts were great indoor fun for all to beat the heat. 

 

We spent tons of time at the spray park this year. Dad and Finn relaxing in the shade. 

 

 Gemma warming up.

 

Aiden the brave, waiting for the bucket to drop. 

 

Because of spending so much time in town this summer, we found a little neighborhood park to hang at one day. Old school slide ;) 

 

Gemma trying the monkey bars. 

 

Finn's first swing. 

 

Never to young for the library! Aiden, Gemma, and Keiran took part in the summer reading club. Aiden committed to reading at least a chapter every day, and Gemma read one of her Sonlight "Fun Tales,"  every night. 

 

Again we had toads appear in our yard after some August rain. The kids like to create a little ecosystem for them in our kiddie pool. 

Planning the next beginning.

There.... All that is missing are some PE pics. We enjoy bike riding, swimming, dance, soccer, hiking, tobogganing, skating, running, and climbing.

It will soon be time to just run in the sprinkler and soak up some sun. We had a big year with adding a second child to our homeschool routine and adding a new babe to our family. This Mamma is tired but it is all worth it.

In the coming year I want to let there be more room for creative learning, and I want to grow our knowledge of the Bible. We are passing down quite a bit of curriculum to younger siblings, and learning what works for each child and our family. We are learning to keep planning simple, even though our lives are full. Less leaves room for more....

 



            

Reading.

Aiden has developed a love to read and so we have a few chapter book series for him to try out. We use the library quite a bit too.

And some more.....

This year we would like to be more conscious of taking some weeks in between normal routine and learning at a more child-guided pace. Some fun books to explore: 

 

Science topics. 

 

And some more. 

 

Socials too. I am excited about these books, especially for Aiden who can run with these kind of resources :) 

Fine Arts

Fine Arts:

(Grade 3, 1, and K)

 

Mom picked one Usborne art book for each kid (but I am sure that they will share too) and some air dry clay.