Why the Gap?: Step 1 - Become a Participant

Why the Gap?: Step 1 - Become a Participant: I'm the type of employee that always likes to be challenged. I go to work to learn, grow, share, and achieve. I recently finished a 15 mon...

Yurting

Yurting, what is that you ask? It is only one of my favourite weekends of the year. Friends, outdoors, not a care in the world. Our kids call it the "weekend of yes" We call it a break from the routines of our lives. Fun outdoors with great friends, enjoying the Pinery Provincial Park. It is our 5th year yurting and we will plan on continuing for many years to come.

www.prezi.com

Prezi is a great online presentation tool. I worked with a colleague on a TLCP pathway. I wanted to illustrate the steps we took to bring our grade 5's forward in writing an explanation.

Is There Enough Food For Everyone? on Prezi

Algonquin Park Canoe Trip

We embarked on a 4 day, 3 night canoe trip to Algonquin Park with my parents this past weekend. We certainly experienced the unpredictability that sometimes comes with Northern Ontario weather. We set up with the wind at our backs thankfully. The clouds were rolling by bringing with it weather patterns that had us peeling off layers intermittently throughout the day. We had some rain during our trip but Jason's tarps saved us from getting too wet. We were treated to breaks of sunshine to which we proclaimed "Happy Hour!" and sat and basked in its warmth. We had a wonderful surprise Sunday morning to see 3 moose crossing Joe Lake right in front of our campsite. We also had what we believe a pair of Pine Martens around our site and one was up a tree checking us out. Cam and Jordan showed true strength and resilience in not once complaining about food, weather or having to paddle back against the wind. Cam kayaked on his own for much of the trip and showed us that we are definitely ready for an interior trip with having to be accompanied by my parents. I was busy taking photos most of the trip, wishing for my Nikon but our trusty Canon with 12x zoom always comes through for us.

Watching loons catch fish to feed to their young.

Cam and Jordan fishing early on a quiet morning

Jordan diving into Tom Thomson Lake after a torrential rainstorm.

Our Year in Pictures - Comic Life

I have decided that this year I would make a photobook with collages illustrating our adventures, special moments and occasions rather than printing pictures. Recently, I purged all of our old photo albums etc and reduced the number of bins accumulating in our basement. I am using a program called Comic Life which is great for making collages such as the one here of our trip to Grundy Lake. Comic Life has so many great applications for classroom use as well. I can't wait to see the finished product. It's like creating a yearbook for our family!

1000 Awesome Things

1000 Awesome Things

I purchased this book after reading the accompanying blog. I found myself nodding my head over and over with each new page turned. I find that it reminds me of the little things in life that we take for granted that often make us smile even when we don't realize it. I plan to give this book to a few friends of mine who need those reminders of the comforting things in life. And those things that are just AWESOME!

Happy 13th Anniversary

This is one of my favourite pictures of Jay and I. I love the smiles on our faces. It is exactly how he makes me feel every single day. We have had a wonderful 13 years and I look forward to many more.