last week of summer

To make the most of the last week of summer, I booked a spur of the moment camping trip for the kiddies and I. Our summer has been so much fun, I don't want it to end. I can't believe that soon the kids will be back at school. And hockey try-outs start on the long weekend for R - nothing says end of summer to me like the start of hockey season!

K dropped the kiddies and I off at my favorite campground in the 1000 Islands - the same one the kiddies and I camped at in July - and picked us up a week later.

We pretty much spent the entire week here...

at the pools.This campground is so great for kids. They give you a schedule of activities when you check in, that you can take part in as you like. It's like sleep-away summer camp {but I get to go too}!

You can start every morning with a jumping contest at the pool.

And this week you could tie-dye a t-shirt...

{the kiddies found a cool 'stick bug' by the tie-dye station}

go on the daily 'Water Wars Wagon Rides' around the campground {a huge water fight between the kids on the tractor-pulled wagon and all the other campers - so much fun!}...

make a water yo-yo, get an airbrush tattoo by the pool, have movie nights with popcorn in the main lodge, or outdoor movie nights, etc. Our kids spent hours and hours in the pool daily - they lived in their swimsuits. {Thank goodness for the waterproofing on Miss S's cast - the only downside was having to dry it out each time it got wet!}

A friend of mine and her girls came to spend the week with us in our trailer and the kids had so much fun together. And it was great for me to have someone to have 'margarita happy hour' with at the pool and after the kiddies crashed for the night!

I wish we had more weeks of summer to spend here.

more may long

We had so much fun camping at Fitzroy and we were enjoying our new trailer so much, we didn't want to go home at the end of May Long Weekend.

So we didn't.
We headed south to the States, with our trailer in tow. We camped in Watertown,NY for a couple more days so the kids could do some more bike riding...

some more swimming...

and some more of their favorite camping activity, s'more making...


And then finally we had to go home.
Like, for real this time.

beach bum

{Miss S playing on the beach at Fitzroy Harbour - camping May Long Weekend}

may long weekend 2011

We bought a new trailer just in time for the May Long Weekend.
Literally.
Just. In. Time.

This is how it happened. We had been wanting to pick up our tent trailer all week and get it ready for our weekend away, but it kept raining so we didn't want to open it up and have the tent get all wet. When K finally picked up the tent trailer to open it up there were a few obvious problems with it that needed to be fixed. When K called the dealership to see about having it repaired they let him bring it in right away. So then, as he was at the dealership having the old trailer repaired, he started looking at new ones.

This was when he concocted his "maybe we should just get a new trailer" theory. So by the time I had arrived at home that evening {and found the nice new trailer brochures all over the kitchen table} K had it all figured out. I wasn't that hard to convince...he had me at the "it has a bathroom" part. And so next day, when I was supposed to be packing for the weekend and picking the kids up early from school, we spent the day at the trailer dealership buying our new trailer. And then somehow still managed to race to the school to get the kiddies and make it to the Fitzroy Harbour camp ground before dark.

Just in time for it to start raining.

But the next day the sun was out and we discovered that a friend of ours and his boys were camping in the site right next to ours. So we spent the weekend camping with them and had a great time. And Lee Ann and her girls drove out to spend the day with us at the campground's beach...


Thankfully Lee Ann brought an extra swimsuit for Miss S because in all the rush to throw things in the new trailer and get going...swimsuits were one of the {many} things we forgot to pack.

pages

Some recent layouts...

Old photos from a camping trip along the west coast. In between all these random photo layouts, I have been working on an album of this trip {I will post those pages when I finish them all}. I love these photos of K and R on the beach at Cape Kiwanda, Oregon {we camped right across the street from this gorgeous beach}...
{This photo of R trying to catch a fish with his red plastic fishing rod is one of my favorites. He really believes that the way to catch a fish is to tie a strawberry to the end of his line...he was entertained for hours this way}

Pages for Miss S's baby book...
Miss S's baptism gown was sewn by my grandmother for my mom's baptism, and my mom passed it down to me. The buttons used on these pages were from my grandmother's button jar {the jar that now sits in my scrapbooking room}...

A page I did when I scrapbooked with a neighbor. We have been saying we would get together to do this for so long. She is one of the neighbors that I get together with for coffee mornings and Desperate Housewife nights, and R is currently in love with her daughter {they are in the same grade at school but different classrooms}...

{When R proudly gave his great grandfather one of his hockey photos at Christmas, he was thrilled to find out that he and his "Poppa" wore the same jersey number when he played hockey...how cool is that?!}

A page I made while scrapbooking at Renee's. I did not get very much done that day, as I spent most of the time chatting with her and Mellisa {I always seem to get more done when I scrap alone, but scrapping with friends is more fun!}...

i'm still here

just haven't found much time to blog. After Wonderland...

• we spent the following weekend camping {our first trip this season} at Sandbanks. Loved it there
• I had a great girl's night out with friends
• we went to the Year End BBQ at R's school {cannot believe he is almost done his first year of school!}
• the kiddies had their last soccer/t-ball lesson
• and the last skating lesson
• my Grandpa came from Winnipeg for a visit, and
• my brother and sister arrived for a visit, especially for...
• Miss S's birthday bash

I'll post more photos of the fun we've been having, soon...

{Miss S at Sandbanks, Outlet Beach}

{Ooooh...I'm watching The Bachlorette right now with Auntie M and Jillian is taking one of the guys snowboarding at Lake Louise. I do miss the mountains. I loved snowboarding at Lake Louise, my favorite ski hill back home. Oh, now they're at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, so great there. If they go to Banff next I will be jealous. So many memories of Banff...}


{Oh yeah. They're in Banff. So jealous. It was like a hundred degrees here today with the humidity and my broken air conditioner...and Jillian is in Banff. I want to go to Banff}.


OK, no more posting about The Bachlorette, I will resume posting about my life {not Jillian's, although her life is way more exciting and has so much more drama}, soon...

s'more camping...

Just call us the happy campers! Our little house on wheels has been getting lots of use lately. Too bad there was so much rain and mud this past weekend...

not that the kiddies seemed to mind!

It was pouring rain when we first arrived in the 1000 Islands {we didn't even set up camp right away, and a campfire was out of the question}, so we headed into Gananoque for lunch. We ate at Muskie Jake's in the Gananoque Inn overlooking the St Lawrence.

Gananoque is a picturesque little town. This is the Town Hall...



We had a wonderful seafood dinner one night in town too {again it was pouring and cooking at the campsite did not seem like a fun idea}. Luckily the rain stopped often enough for us to get in a nature hike, roasting marshmallows, ice cream sundaes at the pool and lots of swimming...


Everything was done while wearing rain boots though!

if you have built castles in the air...

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. - Henry David Thoreau

This past weekend we camped in the 1000 Islands Region, on the Canadian side of the St Lawrence River, which was just a short hour or so drive from home. We were delighted to explore the nearby Boldt Castle on Heart Island,New York. It is such a majestic place - the island and castle are beautiful, and the story behind the castle is fascinating. George C. Boldt, proprietor of the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, was building the castle for his beloved wife Louise, on the heart shaped island. When Louise died suddenly, Boldt stopped the construction of the castle and never set foot on the island again {read the entire story here}.

To get to the island we set out on a boat from Rockport, which was a few minutes drive from our campsite. The weather was not great this weekend, but the rain held off for the trip out to the island.

The 1000 Islands Region is so picturesque, and the homes are just amazing. The boat's tour guide said that this cottage is on an island that is Canadian land and the flagpole {on the other side of the bridge} is on an island that is United States land...

Heart Island is in the United States, so we needed our passports to visit the island. This is where you 'cross the border'...

I took so many photos of the castle is was hard to narrow them down, but here are a few of my favorites.

This is the Power House...

and this is Alster Tower...

The Arch...

This is the Yacht House, which is located on Wellesley Island {we didn't go this time, but when we come back, we will take the tour that includes it}...

It was built to house the Boldt's three yachts and house boat, a workshop, etc, - now you can see antique boats on display there.

You can see from the sky in my photos that the nice weather did not last long. The rain started again while we were on the island, stopped for a bit...

and then started again while we were on the boat trip back!

Maybe you can tell from my long post that we had a great time? This is definitely somewhere that we will visit again {and take our family and friends too, when they come out east...}!