This past weekend, we went camping at Presqu'ile Provincial Park -- in Brighton on Lake Ontario -- with our friends Rob and Vone, and their kids, Lilo and Isla.
It was a gorgeous weekend, sunny and hot from the time we got there on Friday afternoon until the time we left on Sunday afternoon. Our campsites were side by side, and by 6 p.m.-ish, we were all set up and ready to enjoy the weekend.
We brought something extra with us this year -- bikes. Now that we've been enjoying family bike rides, we bought a bike rack for the car and brought our bikes with us. So Austin and Lilo spent many hours over the weekend just biking along the quiet campground road in front of our sites. And, on Saturday morning, we packed our towels in a back pack and biked to the beach.
The beach at Presqu'ile is really nice -- big and sandy -- although the water is kind of murky (it is Lake Ontario afterall). Although there were signs at the park entrance saying swimming wasn't recommened due to high bacteria levels, we swam anyway. (And just showered off when we were done).
So, on Saturday morning, we played at the beach for a couple of hours and then biked back to our campsites for lunch. Relaxed for a bit while the kids watched a movie and then biked out to the general store to get ice cream in the mid-afternoon.
Sunday morning was much of the same, although we drove to the beach because we had to get back to our campsites in time to pack up by 2 p.m.
Evenings were filled with campfires, roasting marshmellows (and making smores) and playing board games. The kids all stayed up late both nights to roast marshmellows but that didn't seem to matter much when it came time to wake up -- both days, Austin and Alex were up no later than 8 a.m. But other than that, we can't complain, they slept fairly well in the tent. (It helps that the nights were warm enough (unlike some previous camping trips) so that no one woke up because they were cold.)
All in all, a great trip -- although it's always nice to come home and wash the dirt and grime away.
I'd share some pictures, but unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home (oops!) so we only have the few that I took on my Blackberry.
Austin helping daddy set up our tent
All four kids hanging out in Alex's camping bed (for those who've never seen it, it's a mini-tent meant for the under 5 crowd -- we take it everywhere and she loves sleeping in it) in our tent.
Alex finally had enough hair for a haircut. Well, sort of anyway. She doesn't have super long hair or anything, but, having never had her haircut (yes, she's 3), the ends were getting really straggly. Afterall, the ends were 3-year-old hair (well, actually maybe 2 and a half, the poor kid was bald for a really long time).
So, on Sunday, we took her for her very first haircut.
She was really good in the chair and seemed intrigued by the whole process. Here's Alex before:
You can't tell from these pictures, but even her bangs were so long that she's been brushing them to the side for weeks. I had been cutting her bangs myself periodically, but hadn't in awhile.
Over the last few years, as her hair has grown, although it's grown out nicely, the back grew into a point. This made her hair, in the back, almost v-shaped. The solution....cut off the pointy end.
So here's Alex's after pictures:
Doesn't she look beautiful? (But of course, I'm a little biased!)
I don't know what else to call this post other than fun, fun, fun....because it's a lot of what this update is going to be. So here's a quick look at what our weekends have been like lately:
Canada's Wonderland
On June 18, we took the kids to Canada's Wonderland for the annual PCL family picnic day. The bonus of it this year, is the park (and some rides) were open to PCL employees one hour before they were open to general public. So, we got there just after 9 a.m. and headed straight for Behemonth (the sort-of new and ginormous roller coaster). We've been to Wonderland for the last three years, but Ryan and I have never had the chance to ride it.
So this year, with no line because the park wasn't open yet, we took turns waiting out front with the kids while the other one rode the roller coaster. I'll admit, I was skeptical about riding -- afterall, I'm afraid of heights -- but it was pretty awesome. After that, we took turns on the Back Lot Stunt Coaster (an also sort-of new coaster) and then, just before 10 a.m., we headed over to the kids' area.
It wasn't overly crowded there all day and we were able to get on a lot of kid rides. This year, Alex was tall enough for most of the kid rides -- basically all of them except two of the three kid roller coasters. Yes, she was tall enough for the mini coaster and we all went on it...and she loved it.
Austin is now tall enough for all the kid roller coasters (3) and 2 of the adult ones (Thunder Run and the Fly). And yes, he went on them all. He's turning into a real thrill ride kid!
By 4 p.m., we called it a day and headed home. A fun day for sure.
Nana's party
The next weekend, we had a small birthday party for Ryan's mom at our house. Ryan's two sisters spent the weekend and Ryan's mom and Graham came on Saturday afternoon, along with a few other guests. It was a low-key evening and a lot of fun.
And fun to have the aunties around for the whole weekend. They were lucky enough to catch Austin's last t-ball game as the Saturday morning was championship day. It was fun watching the kids play and the league really went all out to make the kids feel special -- announcing all their names at the beginning of the game, calling them up by name when it was their turn to bat, and giving them all medals at the end.
School's out!
Last week was the end of JK for Austin but before the end, his kindergarten class put on a play for the school. They've been working on it for months and parents were invited to come watch. So I did. It was Pinkalicious (based on the book) and Austin was one of the bees. It was really cute -- here's his big song and dance scene:
Strawberry picking
On the first day of summer holidays, I took the kids strawberry picking. I guess it's kind of a tradition for us now as this was the third year in a row we've gone. We had a lot of fun and some things never change -- Alex got tired of picking after filling half her container and started choosing strawberries out of my bucket to fill hers and Austin was meticulous in making sure he picked only the perfect strawberries. Eight pounds of strawberries later, we headed home.....and started making jam. Over the course of the weekend, we ate a heck of a lot of strawberries and made two batches of strawberry jam (which turned out like jam this year, not syrup!).
Bike riding
We've been going on family bike rides lately -- a little farther each time now that Austin is a superstar without training wheels. And on Canada Day weekend, we made use of our newly purchased bike rack to drive out to a nearby park and bike ride there. What we discovered is that there are whole parts of Toronto in hidden bike trails and paths that we didn't know existed. We had a wonderful time -- and ended up doing about 6 km, which is pretty darn good considering Austin's bike is way smaller than ours, meaning he has to bike twice as hard as we do.
Now that we have the bike rack, we plan on taking our bikes to the cottage in Augusst and on our camping trip later this month.
I guess that's about it for now. This weekend, the kids are off to my parents house as Ryan and I are going to a wedding (although I have to be honest, I'm really looking forward to a kid-free weekend!) and then the weekend after we're going camping for two nights with our friends Rob and Vone and their two kids. Then the kids are off to day camp for two weeks -- Austin is in full days and Alex is in half days. So with all that going on, there'll be lots more to write about again soon.
To leave off, here's some photos from May and June:
