A VERY Special Package!

 I finally received a VERY special package in the mail the other day.  Initially the seller would not send this package to Canada, so I had to find a US address that would be willing to forward this baby on.  And I did :-)

As you can see by all the stickers plastered all over this box, it's been on a bit of a journey!

 

Here's the 'It's bloody heavy' warning (as quoted by my friend in Seattle who received and forwarded the package on).

 

 

 Here's one small look at what I paid to get this package to my door....

 

 

 

Of course Canada Customs needed to get their share as well......

 

Then I had to drive to a postal outlet in Edmonton to pick it up.  They asked for a little more money too.

 

And....after all that expense and inconvenience, here they are!!!!!  The complete works of Thomas Manton in their rare, red hardcover set.  Only 1000 sets were printed!

Pretty huh?  They get top shelf because they obviously are the MOST valuable in every sense of the word.  Of course, after getting a set of books, I have to rebalance all the colors of the library.  Can't have sets that clash with each other color-wise.  Also, the most important books have to be at the top.  You may never, never, NEVER break up a set.  And there should be no empty spaces on the shelves.  Those are simple, but very important personal library rules.  I take them VERY seriously.

New Camera Settings

I have had my camera for a couple years and just today I found out it had a couple of settings I did not know about.  I have always been unhappy with the way it colored the grass and trees--either too bland or freakishly brilliant.  I have found something that corrects this.  Check out the new pics.  They are WAY more natural. The sun was just starting to peep out after seeing 2 days of dark rainy clouds.

28 Books

In the last 4 weeks I have bought myself 28 books...can you tell someone's been a tad over zealous lately?  Say it fast and it's not too bad.  28.  My bank account, however, would probably rather have seen it written like this 28.     Maybe that's how I'll refer to them from now on.  28 it is.  It is my intent to read them all.  It would of course be incredibly ridiculous for me to take a picture of them, but alas, I have been known to do it.  Add to that the 12 volumes of Goodwin I am supposed to be reading (Ok, to be fair, it's probably only 11) and I have to read 39.  Oh what a happy day to have a nice pile waiting for me.  I am almost giddy. 

Outside Days

Here's a little guy who has been terrified of the pool and always desperately clung to us whenever we went swimming.  He's come a long ways!

 

 

Cute little girl who looks guilty for something...

 

Paul just looking handsome.

 

 

Courtney trotting to the shop to go see dad.  She has no fear nor sees the safety and practicality in staying close to mom at the house. 

Giving you an idea how big Lincoln is getting--look at his height in comparison to Courtney.  We've been told he's just over half grown.

Saving His Pennies

Yesterday night we had to vaccinate chickens--just over 10,000 of them.  Being short catchers we told Eric he could come and help.  I tell you, that kid was SUCH a trooper!  He worked and worked and worked--he did not stop.  He kept up with the rest of the guys for sure.  Everyone was impressed with that boy's work ethic!  So, at the end of the evening, he got a cheque for his hard work.

Today I took him to town to put the money in the bank.  He's been saving money for awhile and had squirreled away all the money he earned doing his paper route while we lived in Spruce Grove.  So he gets to the teller and she puts the money in his account and attempts a little conversation.

Teller: So, are you saving all your money for something?
Eric: Yup!  I'm saving my money for a house.
Teller:  Wh--Wh--What?  Really, a house?
Eric: Yeah, houses are expensive.  They're like 350,000 for a good one.  So I have to save up for it.

And you know what...that boy is going to pull it off too.  He's got an uncle who has LOADS of work for him on a chicken farm.  Eric's got the motivation and the work ethic.  I'm awfully proud of that boy. 

Signs of Spring

Another Great I-max Experience

We had a great day today.  The homeschooling facilitator showed up this morning and essentially 'signed' us off on school.  Honestly, we only have about 15 days of school left.  Wahooooo!

After lunch we dropped Courtney off at my in-laws and we took the other 4 to the space and science center.  The plan was to go watch the newest I-max called "Rocky Mountain Express" but since we were there early we went to browse in the earth and environment section.  Glad we did!

There was a fellow standing in a 'zone' that had a giant white ball hanging from the ceiling.  He ushered us inside and wanted to show us a couple of things.  We sat on the benches and as he played with a few buttons on his I-pad, the giant ball took on the appearance of the moon.  He asked if anyone knew what it was.  Of course the kids all said that it was the moon.  Eric told him the moon was called Luna.  The fellow showed us some neat things on the moon.  He told us some neat facts about the 6 landings on the moon.  We were told that the space and science center ACTUALLY had a piece of the moon in their building!

Then he changed the ball to look like a planet.  He asked the kids which planet it was.  Eric and Lindsay answered, "MARS!"  Very good!  The guy asked if they knew anything about Mars.  Eric said that Mars had a lot of volcanoes.  The guy then zeroed in on the largest volcano in our universe--which was indeed on Mars.  He explained some landings on Mars by robots.  The kids were pretty gripped.  Next he showed the sun.  Very cool!  Eric especially was really into this exhibit.  he knew most of the answers since space fascinates him so much.  Unfortunately, we had to catch the I-max so we couldn't stay much longer, but we want to go see that exhibit again.

The I-max was SO good!  It was about the building of the railroad through the Rocky Mountains in the late 1800;s and early 1900's.  BC insisted that if they were going to be a part of Canada they expected the government to keep them connected to the rest of the country by rail.  And so the task began.  40 men died in the surveying aspect of the work--travelling and mapping the line on horseback, boat and on foot.  The winters were brutal. 

The I-max showed the actual building of the railroad and all the difficulties the men encountered.  These men only used primitive hand tools and black powder to get the job done.  They had to build trestles, bridges, tunnels, rails and the like.  On the really bad stretches, the men had days where they only got 5 feet done.  It was averaged that for every mile of track laid in the Rocky mountains, 6 men died.  There were Canadians, Japanese, Englishmen, Chinese, and Americans working on this line.  Yes, they could've built the railway farther north, but the main reason for building the railway along the southern border of Canada was to keep the Americans from easily taking our land.  So our blood, sweat and toil went into making this land the way it is. 

This I-max made me proud to be a Canadian.  My kids LOVED it.  They were left with deep impressions.  I highly recommend it.  I must say...the best thing we did was buy that yearly family pass to the Science Center.  The kids LOVE it there, and the pass has already long paid itself off.

After that, we went back to my in-laws.  We went swimming with dad and the kids and then had supper with all of us.  After supper I had a coffee (and that was a GOOD coffee--totally hit the spot!) and we chatted awhile before going home.  Really, another great day.

Outside Time!

 What a fantastic day today!  So much got accomplished.  We had loads of fun.  The weather was absolutely terrific--hovering around 30 degrees all day.  Here's some highlights.

Now to be fair, this picture was taken last night after church.  The kids all wanted to eat their snacks out on the deck.  So here are all 5, getting along WONDERFULLY, and just plain enjoying the amazing weather.  Apparently this was the first weekend in the last 90 days that we did not see snow! 

 

 

My dad showed up this morning much earlier than expected (6:30 am) to see how the chickens were doing.  I made everyone some breakfast, we had a nice visit and soon thereafter he went home again.  I like breakfast visitors :-) 

 

By 8:30 we were ready to hit the books.  The 2 oldest asked if they could work outside.  That worked out well since the 3 youngest were playing out there as well and I could keep a good eye on all of them.  The little ones were far enough away not to be a distraction, yet close enough to hear my voice if something wasn't quite going well.

 

 

 

Dan had some work to do with the tractor.  This time he took Courtney with him.  Tractor time with dad is greatly coveted!

 

As the day continued, the day got warmer.  Dan had been filling up the pool and figured it would be ready by about Friday.  Right now it is FREEZING cold.  But of course, the boys wanted to show off their manliness and opted to jump into the frigid waters.  Not to be outdone, Lindsay was determined to prove that girls could be 'tough' too and she jumped in right after them.  The snapshot I got of them does not show the initial looks of shock and the desperate thrashing that occurred immediately upon contact.  Nope, they definitely 'posed' for this shot.

 

By 3:00 I opted to shut the books.  I wanted to get out to the garden and see how my strawberries had fared after the long, cold winter.  I gently pulled the straw off of them to reveal the new growth.  Almost every plant had made it!  I was so thrilled!

 

Next I decided to take the girls to go see the Devonian Botanical gardens.  Paul decided to come as well.  What a beautiful place!  They have a maze for the children and a large 'Rapunzel' lookout tower where you can oversee the entire 190 acres of themed gardens.  We took the time to walk through the Japanese gardens, the butterfly house, and the greenhouses that housed many exotic plants.  Just beautiful!  Since I had bought a family pass for the year, it will be the perfect place for me to sit and read many evenings over the summer months.

 

Speaking of reading, I also picked up a package from the post office that contained 3 books that I've been wishing for:

 

--The Letters of Samuel Rutherford--yes, unabridged and complete with 742 pages.  can't wait to eat that up!

--Faith on Trial by Martyn Lloyd Jones--an exposition on Psalm 73...my favorite psalm!

--The Valley of Vision--I haven't a CLUE why I haven't purchased this one earlier. 

 

Anyways.......to go along with a great summer day, I figured we ought to have a real summer type of a supper.  Chicken wings, garlic bread and coleslaw...with ice cream cones for dessert! 

 

All day we noticed our poor husky dog, Lincoln, just panting up a storm.  Being only 4 months old, he's never seen summer.  You can just see him thinking, "Where did the snow go?"  He is accustomed to sleeping in snow drifts.  We have a dog house for him, but he prefers a nice snow bank.  There is a bit of snow alongside the barn yet.  We caught him meandering over there where he happily flopped down in his rapidly disappearing natural habitat.

 

So this evening I started reading the kids a new book.  They are pretty hooked on the Chronicles of Narnia.  We started the one entitled "Prince Caspian."  Then off to bed.  Finally, I sat on the deck by myself listening to frogs croaking, ducks quaking faintly in the distance, and Canada geese loudly squawking as they flew by.  The sun was slowly going down and the clouds were an amazing swirl of pink, grey and white behind a darkening blue sky.  I read until it was too dark to see the words in my book.  It was a pretty sunset tonight.

 

How does one not offer thanks upon the completion of such a wonderful day....