Camping Trip to the Bruce Peninsula - Part 1

Ok, so I really lapsed there in my blogging....so much has happened that I'm not even going to try and catch up on all of it.  Instead I will just add the odd post here and there as I remember....our first trip home, including a stop in Paris, Ben's birthday, the summer (including summer camp) and so on.  I have to restart my updates though with our most recent camping trip to Bruce Peninsula National Park.

I had heard of just how beautiful the Georgian Bay area is, and how clear the waters are....and it tied in nicely with our Canada bucket list to camp near every great lake shore that has an Ontario shoreline (well, except for Lake Ontario as we live right by it).  It is such an amazing place, I heard, that despite finding out that there are snakes, including the endangered Massassauga Rattlesnake, cougars, wolves, coyotes and BEARS, I swallowed my fears and booked 3 nights in the National Park.  And, apart from the first night where I didn't sleep a wink imagining bears and the like pawing through our campsite, I enjoyed every last minute.  The kids had an amazing time too - any excuse to go feral :-)

I'll tell the rest of the story with the following pictures - my words could never do it justice, and I know you only really read this for the pictures right?!

Our campsite

Helping daddy start a fire for dinner - you have to start early as once it gets to about 6:30, the light out here fades fast

 Jasmine cooking onions for our burgers 

Awwww!

Pretty dark already!

S'Mores!

The first night we just had time to set up camp, eat and go to bed.  On our first day, we started off the morning (after a yummy breakfast of bacon rolls and coffee/juice)with a snake hike with a Park Ranger around the Singing Sands Beach ( so called, because the Native Indians believed that in certain winds the sands appear to sing - this is actually scientifically proven to really happen).  We learned so much about the different types of snakes found on the Peninsula and how they are protected by federal law.

a discarded rattle!

A shed snake skin

SNAKES! - Two pregnant Queen Snakes....they were slithering so fast through the rocks that I couldn't get a clear shot

Sofia wasn't scared of bears...

In the afternoon we went to the famous Indian Head Cove and the Grotto.  What awesomeness... but first you have to hike to it through the woods...

It's hot! Are we there yet?

Tree hugger :-)

Stopping for a quick break

Sofia get's a ride

But isn't THIS so worth it?!

Beautiful!

The waters were so frigid though, that despite the snorkelling gear, Ben didn't actually dare swim all too much :-)

See how clear that water is!

Did I mention how FREEZING the water was?!  But there are no shower facilities in the National Park, and it was hot, so lake swimming it was :-)

Just climb into this cave from those cliffs in the background (Ben and Jas are like mountain goats, they practically skipped down them....me?  Not so much!).....

.....And this is your reward...The Grotto.  Pool of awesomeness.  Crazy cold and crazy deep and crazy turquoise.

I'm going to share more photos from the rest of the trip in a separate post as there are so many more - the stunning views and experiences were endless.

Living here, there is so much to see and do that we rarely want to see the same place twice - not when there are so many other places on our list.  But we all agreed that Tobermory (more on that quaint little town next time) and the Bruce Peninsula National Park are to be our new summer tradition.  We can't wait to go back again - and if any family happen to come out and visit us during the summer, we shall take them too and introduce them to the sheer beauty of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.  Form an orderly queue.....

Hello!

Wow, it's been over 5 months since I last posted ANYTHING!  The thought of everything I wanted to say and catch you all up on was quite overwhelming, so I kept putting it off.  Silly really, as now I will have a lot of work to do.  In the meantime, I wanted to share this beautiful picture of the view we woke up to this morning.....

Now, despite it looking so ethreal and beautiful from up here, in my warm cosy apartment, far removed on the 17th floor, I am actually not looking forward leaving the house today.  Apart from Sofia's gymnastics class, I have to go and do some grocery shopping.  A 45 min walk away.  I am so done with the winter - where the hell is Spring?!?  This time last year it was bright and sunny, and often we didn't even need our coats on. Overall winter has been much greyer and colder and wetter and snowier and longer and everything worse than last year.  Not having a car makes even a trip to the shop to get bread and milk, at best, a 45 min round trip, or at worst completely impossible as I can't get the pushchair through the snow.

And, as much as I think it's a crying shame that in the UK the High Street is now so homogenised and lacking in small businesses and variety, I (on occasion during this particularly long winter) actually miss being able to pop into Sainsbury's to pick up some school uniform bits, something for the house and a bottle of wine, all whilst doing the weekly shop. Here, for a start you cannot buy alcohol from anywhere other than the Beer Store (beer only as the name says!), or the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario - go figure).  Now there are supermarkets, but the quality is not great for much more than pantry stuff.  So off I trudge, in one direction for the butchers (1 hr round trip if you please), another for the bakery, deli, greengrocers and health food store, another if I want to get cleaning supplies from the $ store, and another for the LCBO.  In the summer I love this.  I love that every street has it's own kind of feel and atmosphere.  But days like we've been having this week, I really miss our car.  And yes, Sainsbury's!

Anyway, great news is, WE ARE COMING HOME TO ENGLAND FOR A VISIT IN MAY!!!!!!
And via Paris too if you please :-)  More details to follow.....

Toddler Mayhem

The night before Maria left us for home, my sister Naomi and her two sons Theo and Josiah also came out to visit us.  So for 2 days and 1 night, to say we had a house-full would have been a gross understatement!  Picture this, 4 adults, 2 children and not 1, not 2, but 3! toddlers :-)  All I can say is that there was never a dull moment. And I think the pictures speak for themselves as to how much chaos fun was had! We were completely outnumbered by little people :-D Seriously though, I really appreciated being able to see my sister and my nephews and to have all our children get to know each other anew. I still marvel that, between us, we have put 5 new people on this Earth.....

Aunty Nay, Theo and Jasmine

Carnage!

I have no idea why Sofia is screwing up her face like that..... :-)

Jasmine was like mummy number 3 and did a fantastic job of entertaining all the little ones - they adored her too

I think this was the funniest point of the visit for me.....Theo's nappy (not being a swim nappy) got totally waterlogged and was like a big ball on his back.  After putting up with it for longer than he could bear, he took it upon himself to run to the nearest bin, strip it off, reach up on tiptoes to put it in, stop for a quick wee on the boardwalk and then come running back to us!  I laughed so hard (though I don't think the passers-by knew quite what to make of it!) that I thought I'd cry lol!  This shot is the aftermath :-)

Bath time!

At the Mandarin with Great-Aunty Lou (the kids' great, great Aunt) Doesn't she look good!

Parting shot! 

Other highlights from Pippi's visit

Gah!  I am so behind with my blogging!  There are posts that I meant to do over the summer that I never got around to, and there are posts that I have plans to do but still aren't getting around to.....  So you'll have to excuse the somewhat chaotic timing of my posts these days.  Anyway, here are tonnes more a few pictures because I am rubbish at picking just a couple of the rest of Pippi's visit back in August



Trip to Centre Island:

Sofia with her (maternal) great-granddad, my cousin Caleb was visiting from South Carolina, so he and my grandparents came along so the kids could spend time together

Just in case you're lost ;-)

the kids improvised buckets by using the cups from our picnic

on the ferry back to Toronto

Schooner Boat trip on Lake Ontario:

'Cheeeese!'

oh wait!  Is that actually....ME?!  In a picture?!?!

Ben helps to raise the sails

Randoms:

High Park

Library

Kensington Market - a car garden!

Saying Goodbye :'-(