Fun with melting ice!

Today we had no homeschool activities, atleast none that required driving to. It was a beautiful day, it reached around 67 degrees which felt downright sweaty after the cold spells we have had. So we spent a large part of our day outside chipping ice. Our driveway has been partially iced over with a few inches of ice, so we were glad to get it taken care of. The mounds of snow at the end of the cul-de-sac were generating a lot of water that just so happened to pool up right at the end of our driveway, so we also had to carve through some mini ice mountains so that the water could flow down the street. This was great fun for the girls. It was a really good lesson in engineering and earth science! The water was dammed up by the ice, so we had to remove the ice in just the right spots to get the water to flow. This took a lot of muscle on my part with some ice crackers and shovels. There was much rejoice though when we finally got the water going. We enjoyed hearing with our ears that the water was running through with the little trickles it made. Then we decided to follow the water to see just where it was going in such a hurry. So we took a trek down to the end Oregon Court, where it flowed underneath a large pile of snow, actually making an 'underground' tunnel. We listened along the way to follow it. Then it turned to go down Arbutus Drive. Then it really got fun because it merged with some more water coming down another street. The girls followed it down, shovels in hand. Occasionally a little 'iceberg' would clog the flow of water and it would spill up onto the sidewalk, so they would both go at it with their shovels. They thought it was the best game in the world. Another street over it finally spilled off into a large city drain. By then it was practically a raging river and the sound it made was pretty loud. It was so much fun, and all free! Oh, the lessons we learn while we are having fun. I am really savoring these simple moments that are enjoyed by children.