The things that are different than Calgary in Maple Ridge

1. There is no fresh snow here like I heard there is in Calgary

2. There are no airport block-ups here today, thank goodness

3. Just a few minutes ago we went on the dikes and we got to feed chickens at a farm there

4. There is also a lot of bloomage here. There are a few flowers and some regular plants growing. There is still holly growing. The grass is green here.

5. We are living right beside the Fraser River here. And we are right in the middle of the city in Calgary. Oh, and by the way, the Fraser river is very big.

6. In Calgary we look at the mountains and they are far away, and here they are close. Here the mountains are north and in Calgary they are west.

7. It takes only about one hour to drive to the ocean. In Calgary it takes about two days and an hour.

8. I am missing my girlfriend, Rachel. And I'm also missing the rest of you who are reading this blog. But I have a new friend named Abigale here.

We also played floor hockey last night. It is in one of our classes at the Pitt Meadows Recreation Centre. It was fun! We scored about 35 goals! And our teacher lost. He won the shoot out, but he lost the game. It was the teacher against the kids.

Nathan

Vancouver Aquarium

The Vancouver aquarium is the most intense aquarium I have ever been in. It has leopard eels, beluga whales, dolphins and sea otters. The corals they have there are amazing. And I think they have sea horses. You can see people feed anenomes, huge, gigantic fish, and octopi. The octopus grabbed onto the man's hand and I could see its tentacles moving toward the bag of food he had. She let go when she found the mesh around it.

I think our trip has been amazing so far. I'm looking forward to going to the aquarium again next week with our Aunt.

Emma

Jungles

I saw this picture of these elephants in a movie called 'Jungles'. I also saw birds of paradise, monkeys, fungus, insects, and plants. The elephants that I saw were from Africa, the African Congo. They make clearings in the jungle.

Another homeschooling thing that we did is make castles. And I'm going to show a picture of mine. Most of the castles that we are making came from the middle ages. I made a Motte and Bailey castle. A Motte is one big tower with a drawbridge and a moat around it and the Bailey is a little town with another moat around it and another drawbridge, except it's shorter.

Nathan

A few pictures

This is at Whytecliff Park in Horseshoe Bay on Feb. 10 - Emma found a great tidal pool that had a giant snail, several little brown fish and hundreds of mussels and barnacles in it.















Here we are the morning of Feb. 2 as we were getting ready to leave Tia's house (that's it in the background). Lots of snow on the coast this year!














The kids and Chris and the view from the top of Pender Hill near Tia's house. The day before the snow!

Friend in the basement

It is so different in this house. That's because I have a friend in the basement! Her name is Abigail. She is from South Africa. She and her mom and dad are living in the basement right now. We have six things in common.
1. We both like horses.
2. We like the same foods.
3. We both want to be in charge of the games we play.
4. She is not from here.
5. We like the same games and things we do together.
6. We both don't like school. I like homeschooling better and Abigail wishes she could do homeschooling too.
It has been very exciting for the last four days. And Seide, the dog, is very sad that her owners are gone. Abigail has been talking about her a lot. She really likes Seide.
Bye for now!
Emma

Settling in to Maple Ridge

We are taking care of a dog named Seide (say -zaiduh). Her name means 'silk' in German. We have to give her a medicine wrapped in liver sausage, also known as liverwurst. And sheeeeee loves it! Seide is a dalmation, well, what I think is a dalmation. She has small and big spots. And when she was young her hair was as soft as silk. That's why her name is Seide.
The house we are staying in is the house that one of Dad's work friends' parents live in. And it is right next to the Fraser River.
Mom saw a tugboat pulling a barge up the river yesterday.
We have a pull out bed. My bed slides from under Emma's. It looks like a regular bed when my bed is pushed in. But when it's out, it looks like two! That's because it actually is two beds.
That's all for now!
See you on skype hopefully!
Nathan

Miracle on the Sunshine Coast

In the last day it has been turning into a place of miracles. For one miracle, yesterday I was just standing there with my arm outstretched and after quite a few tries a squirrel came and started eating out of my hand! Now I know why it is called Dream Valley here! The reason the squirrel came to my hand is because he loves sunflower seeds and other big nuts. We have a mixture of those and tiny little seeds (he hates those) to feed the birds. We usually put them on the deck, and in bowls spread around the garden here. Lots of birds come and a few squirrels. I picked out all the sunflower seeds and put them in my hand, and made sure there were no sunflower seeds or bigger nuts on the deck. After I got all those, the squirrel came. His paws felt like heavy little feathers. He kept coming and took more than three seeds from my hand! 

Another miracle is that yesterday was the most beautiful day we have had. And today...it is snowing! It is really a place of miracles. 

Emma