Oaklawn Farm Zoo

What do you get when you cross a donkey and a zebra? All the locals know...it's a ZONKEY and we have our very own at the zoo near our house. Hilarious isn't it?!
The bird below completely freaks me out. It was so close to the fence that I didn't even use the zoom to take the photo. I was so nervous it was going to peck at me. I literally snapped the picture and ran. Anyone know if this is an emu or ostrich? Do they have teeth? Did I have a right to be scared? I think emus eat there own poop....is that true? Crazy colouring...look at those eyes sizing me up, and the mouth open just a bit waiting to attack! yikes!!!!

Port George!

Living so close to the water definitely has it's privileges; lobster, scallops and lots of beaches! Last week my neighbour and I took our children to Port George, which is a little village on the Bay of Fundy, and only about 15 minutes from my house. The weather can vary greatly by water and land. The sun was shining brightly that day but was quite windy on the Bay.

Port George has a rocky waterfront so I brought some paints and let the kids "inner artists" come out! It was tons of fun!

Here's the gang bundled up for a photo op.

Here's Abbey and Michael painting rocks...

A great day seal watching, rock painting, snacking and admiring the beautiful scenery!

"Reunited...

And It Feels So Good!" This is the song I've had in my head since Mary moved back! (you know the song by Peaches and Herb from the '70's!!) BAhahahaha!

The Major Family is now back in Greenwood! Yay! On July 10th, Sophie and Jackson came over to play so that Mary and her husband Jason could finish/start? unpacking. Abbey and Michael were so excited and they all had such a great time together, picking up exactly where they had left off a year ago. Here are some pics of our day together.

All deep in concentration colouring at the kitchen table...

Having fun on the playset in the backyard...



and off to the zoo: Abbey with a baby goat (that she held for like 20 minutes!!!) and Sophie double-fist feeding the deer.











Finally... ICE CREAM....a sweet ending to an awesome day! Here's to many more playdates in our future! Welcome back friends!!!

The HOG!

Everyone on our street has these fancy dancy John Deere ride-on lawn mowers...and then there's us (and our neighbours the Tromp's). We had push mowers and just didn't fit in. Well, last summer we decided to go in on a joint investment and buy ourselves a ride-on lawn mower. We bought "The HOG" off Kijiji...and now we REALLY don't fit in! But it's just so freaking funny to see these two big men mow the lawn on this thing. Here's a pic of Steve mowing this week... knees almost up to his armpits ha!ha!

To make up for it's lack of size and speed we added flame decals. Check out the hard-core skull you see from the back...ha!ha!

It does the job though and we get a good chuckle every week.

New Deck!

When Steve built me the fire pit last month, he used all the stones from the lower deck by our house to surround it. We use the lower deck all the time though...we have comfy furniture and it's our outdoor lounging area so Steve went to work building a bigger and better deck for our family.

Here's pictures of the construction under way...Steve and his adorable little assistant.

Finished deck pics to follow...must still upload them from my camera!

A Family That Plays Together...

Stays Together!!! Golf season is upon us and now the entire family has their own set of clubs. Abbey and Michael really enjoy playing golf and it's a fun family activity so I'm being as supportive as I can be! ha!ha! Steve has a membership at Paragon this year and they have a great driving range and pitch n' putt section so we spend most of our time there.
Abbey's a lefty like me and grand-papa; isn't her little purple bag adorable?!


I've always said that I hope my children have the McAlpine "golf gene" but it seems that the Paquin's might have that gene as well. Congratulations to my Mom who broke 100 at Cedarhill today! Way to go Mom!

More Grad Pictures!

Grand-parents bursting with pride! Front row seats for the event!

With some classmates...left to right: Abbey, Frederic, Michael and Cedric.

Cute story about Abbey and Frederic...One day Abbey came home and said she had decided who she was going to marry. This is how the conversation went...

Abbey: "Maman, je veux marrier Frederic."

Maman: "Ah oui, pourquoi?"

Abbey: "Parce que je l'aime."

Maman: "Est-ce qu'il est gentils?"

Abbey: "Oui, tres gentils!"

Maman: "Est-ce qu'il est intelligent?"

Abbey: "Oui, mais pas aussi intelligent que moi!"

Maman: (after laughing hysterically) "Est-ce qu'il est beau?"

Abbey: "Oui, tous les jours!"

So far she knows how to pick 'em...smart, nice and cute...PLUS his Mom is the principal of the school and his Dad is a pilot! Oh yes! I approve! ha!ha!

Michael with his best buddy Jacob. It's so cute to see these two together. They are really sweet together. When they play soccer against each other, they'll stop to hug in the middle of a play. Hilarious!