Snow forts made easy

Last weekend Uncle Michael came to visit bearing gifts. Once of the most awesome gifts in his Santa-like bag was the Snow Block Mold. Instant snow fort in no time at all. And as luck would have it the snow conditions were just perfect for putting them to the test.




They worked like a charm. Thumbs up Uncle Michael!! We can't wait to test out our sand castle building skills on the beach this summer too.

Last GAT hike of 2007

Here we are at the end of the hiking season and you couldn't have asked for a better day to soak it all in one last time before the snow falls.

Sunday morning Kenmore, grizz, and I headed up into the GAT via a secret trail known to only a few that still hold one of the "Lost Trails of Gatineau Park" maps. So under a blue sky and a toasty 3°C we headed up the escarpment to catch the Yellow Box Trail.


Grizz points out the Luskville Fire Tower and tells a tall tale about some old hiking adventure with a legend named Binthair. Not sure if Kenmore and I bought it but it was entertaining nonetheless.


Ice on the trail - a sign of things to come.

View of the Ottawa River.


Heading home (but not before hitting the local poutine shack).

Cheers.


Soaking it all in (and testing out my mini-tripod).

Chirp, screech, quack

The last couple of weekends we did some hiking in the Greenbelt and spotted several birds scrounging for what seemed to be their last meal before winter.



The kids enjoyed feeding the persistent little red-breasted nuthatch and the black-capped chickadee.





On the way home from one of our excursions we spotted this juvenile red-tailed hawk looking for something furry to eat.


Click here to hear a red-tailed hawk.


And of course there were plenty of ducks milling about too.



Quack.