Thank you, Canada, for having a birthday

It was Canada's 145th birthday on Sunday, which means it was a long weekend for us.
And Mother Nature treated us well - blue skies and hot temperatures the whole weekend long. Saturday was soccer and on the way home we stopped at a garage sale and then did an inpromtu beach visit. The boys went in in their shorts while I stayed out taking pictures. We had to pull out guy out of the lake not because he was done climbing on rocks or jumping off the dock, but rather because his teeth were blue and his lips were chattering.

Saturday night there was a walk after bath and campfire were my guy discovered he liked our cooked marshmallows, particularly when they were wrapped in a graham crackers and chocolate.
Sunday there was a Canada Day party, but E.'s favourite part was not the hot dogs or cake - he didn't eat either - but the bouncy castle that had a slide at the end. As I was standing at the ladder ensuring he and the other little kids didn't get squished by the bigger ones - and the pillars that came knocked the children, big and old, over - I didn't see him go down the slide, but Jamie says he had a blast.
Sunday night, E experienced his first firework display in our frontyard and he loved it.

Monday included two trips into the lake in front of our house and backyard fun.
E. wasn't the only one Tuesday morning that wished the weekend was still here. I hope your Canada Day was fantastic, and Happy Independence Day to our American neighbours.

Fun Times at Provincial Park

I’m back.
My son and I had a wonderful time camping with my parents, sister-in-law and niece at Sibbald Point Provincial Park.
It rained - torrentially at many times - most of the week, giving us only a couple of days sunshine and warmth. But we made the best of it.

We walked, swam, walked, threw rocks in the water, walked, climbed, watched Dora (she is really annoying), walked, played at the park, walked, coloured, played games, walked, sang, had campfires, ate, walked, watched Franklin, cooked smores (SK, I am really developing a taste for these things. I had the best one Saturday night) and walked. My niece and I played in the rain, with me encouraging puddle jumping (now she can point out and enjoy the best puddles herself).

We saw a mother deer and her fawn, complete with spots, twice, and had a raccoon play in the woods behind our campsite. Otherwise, we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.
We did, however, had many experiences with pigs.
We were disgusted about the amount of litter we found on the trails, left behind on campsites, at the beach and in the woods.
Note to the many weekend, first-time and city campers who go to Sibbald Park because it’s close to Toronto and not in the middle of nowhere:
* Park staff are not there to clean up after you. If you want maid service, go to a hotel. We saw one man ordering a park worker to clean up the litter in his campsite. While you do expect your site to be clean, if there is litter to be had, pick it up yourself.
* There is no curb-side garbage pick up at provincial parks. While it’s lovely that you have bagged your garbage, if you leave it at the edge of the campsite, raccoons, skunks and other wildlife will get into it.
* The only thing you should take out of the park are pictures. Leave the wildflowers, the berries, the driftwood where you found it.
* If you take it in, you should be taking it out. Plastic bags do not belong in the water, bottles do not belong on the trails and cookie wrappers shouldn’t be on the road. Aren’t people teaching their children not to litter?
* Radio-free zones are just that. Keep the music off.
* If you aren’t in a radio-free zone, your music shouldn’t be so loud I can hear it at my campsite. If you want to party, stay home.
* Don’t cut through my campsite even if it is quicker.
* The beach is not an ashtray.
* You are camping, expect wildlife.
* And just a question. Why patio lanterns and Christmas lights? When you go camping, wouldn’t you rather see the stars than create light pollution?