More Rain

While we hear that Toronto continues to await some rain, we have more than enough.  It has been raining every night and for the past few days we have had more and more downpours.  On Monday night, while taking Sandra up after dinner, the van got stuck part way up our driveway.  The conditions were so slippery that it quickly became obvious that we would not be able to safely go up or down.

Scott, Graham and Morgan came to the rescue in the 4x4 jeep and we placed cement blocks behind each tire.  We had hoped to return the next morning to reassess the situation in daylight.  However, the rains continued during the night and off and on throughout the day.  Finally, we were able to arrange for the rental company to come down with another 4X4 to pull the van up the steepest part of the hill.  A tow truck would have charged $400.00 to pull us up the short hill.  We are so grateful to Solomon for coming down and helping us out.

Today we will head to Castries after camp to exchange the van for another 4x4 jeep.  As I write this all the children have had to stay under the roof in the courtyard all morning as we have struggled with the noise of the heavy rains and thunder that keeps passing through.  It appears that the decision to change vehicles is right for this time of year and that in future we will have to use only 4x4 vehicles despite the space restrictions.

This week at camp Auntie Chara and Auntie Michaela are leading us through a week on stars.  Using skits, books, crafts, games and lots of activities the children have been totally engaged in learning lots of facts about constellations, asteroids and our star, the sun.  They have arranged regular visits from Mr. Astronomer (Morgan) who reinforces the day’s facts and provides some strange ones of his own.

Today, while discussing the constellations, we had a visit from a lost traveler (Scott) who seemed to be channeling Johnny Depp.  Apparently, he was trying to reach Toronto but had lost him GPS overboard and had been relying on the stars to navigate.  The children helped him get his directions straight and wished him safe travels.

- Auntie Shel