This past weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out of town to explore Frontenac Provincial Park.
We took a picnic and enjoyed some lunch before we set off on a hike around the lake. The kids were pretty excited.
Isabel spent some time trying to identify plants that were listed on our hiking guide. This is a Button Bush.
We took a side trail to Kemp Mine since the kids are into rocks & minerals and spent a while looking for shards of mica. The mine is abandoned and visitors are barred from entering, but the kids would have loved to climb down into the hole to explore.
We had complany, but he didn't seem interested in helping us find any mica.
The scenery up here is really quite something. It reminds me more of being out west in the Rocky Mountains than in the relative flatness of the midwest I know. There is rock everywhere!
Isabel was happy to her rock-climbing skills to the test.
This was my favorite spot - a flooded beaver pond. There was just something so peaceful about the stillness of the water and the crystal clear reflection. I could have sat here for hours.
This past weekend, Kingston played host to the annual 1,000 Island Poker Run.
Several boats were put in at the boat ramp right outside our apartment. More than one got their trailers stuck on the ramp. Ha.
Cole was so excited to see so many power boats in one place. He's convinced he would love to own one when he's older. I would rather own a pedal boat....sometimes I wonder if he's mine.
Miss Aqua Doll (pictured below) actually had turbine engines. It sounded like a jet taking off. Can you imagine riding in a boat with turbine engines? The captain has now turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Thank you.
The Aqua Mania team actually had four girls dressed in the same revealing outfit signing posters for people. It was so very NASCAR.
Now, I'm not a fan of power boats because of their blatant disregard for the environment, but even I have to admit these boats were pretty amazing to behold. The other amazing part about these photos is that they were all taken by my not-so-little man...except for one which was taken by my cutie girl.
Every year, on one special day in the month of June, there's a really great event called "Doors Open Ontario". For that one day museums, attractions and government buildings all across the province are open for free to the public. Being that we live in a historical city, we had several places to choose from. This year, I pondered taking the kids to the Penitentiary Museum so they could learn about the history of Canada's prison system...nothing like seeing some photos and artifacts from prison to sway you from a life of crime I always say...but ultimately the Marine Museum won out.
The museum is just a couple blocks from our house and sits in a building that was around back when the whole shoreline was still a shipyard and our building didn't exist.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that long ago. This photo shows exactly where we live today. Our building would be located on the left of the picture. I'm not sure what happened...the trucking industry I guess...but you don't see any ships like this docking in Kingston these days. Kind of sad actually.
Right now, there's a huge celebration of the bi-centenial of the War of 1812 going on. They're actually bringing in several tall ships to re-enact some famous chase between a Canadian ship and a US ship over the July 1st holiday and tons of artists have been commissioned to create paintings, models, giant dioramas, and other whatnot as part of the occasion.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think anyone actually won the War of 1812...or lost it for that matter. I admit it's pretty unclear to me what exactly they're celebrating, but who am I to judge? All I know is that I prefer not to partake in discussions about who won the War of 1812 just in case there's a difference of opinion.
Kingston is supposed to have some of the best freshwater scuba diving in the world. Thank goodness they've updated the gear a bit. This thing is straight out of a Scooby-Doo episode.
We took the opportunity to check out the John Henry as well. It's a Coast Guard boat that is permanently docked outside the museum for visitors to enjoy.
Despite the fact that the boat wasn't moving, wandering around on board made me queasy. I don't think I'll be joining ranks anytime soon.
Clay, on the other hand, might make a good sailor.
Yesterday we went on our first rock hunting field trip with the Kingston Mineral and Lapidary Club. We were hunting fossils and fossils we did find.
The quarry we were at had recently been blasted, so we were sifting through piles of rock that were millions of years old. It seemed as though there was a fossil on every rock we picked up. It was amazing.
The kids had a great time learning the dos and don'ts of rock collecting from some of the older rock hounds.
Cole was thankful to have his own rock hammer.
Isabel was thankful that mom and dad made Cole to share.
We came home with quite a few specimens, each a little piece of history. The hardest part was deciding what to keep and what to leave for another day. The ones we kept are filled with traces of snail shells and coral patterns, worm holes and clam shells. We'll need to clean our specimens up a bit to make the fossils stand out, but everyone agreed that our first official rock adventure was a success.
We found ourselves a local strawberry farm this past weekend and went out in search of some pure strawberry gold.
Needless to say, we were successful. And I've got to tell you, I've never seen so many strawberries! They were red. They were ripe. And they were plentiful.
One awesome thing, besides the big red berries, was that the farm sold reusable baskets. For just 50-75 cents you could get a basket that will service you for many berry picking years to come. Hooray for green farmers!
After a short tractor ride, we were assigned a row and we began to pick.
Most of the berries found their way into a basket, but I would be lying if I said that they all made it there. One or two may have been sampled along the way.
We picked two 6-liter baskets for ourselves and a 4-liter for some friends. My freezer is packed full with freshly picked frozen strawberries and I have some waiting to be turned into ice cream....maybe a daiquiri.
We were out enjoying the beautiful weather yesterday at Lemoine Point. It's our favorite spot to get away from the hustle and bustle of city living, so I thought I would post a few pictures of our adventure.
Here's our little family from Isabel's perspective.
There's a farm right by the park and all the animals were out enjoying the sun. There were goats, sheep, chickens, turkey and even a pig.
The trilliums were out in full bloom, so I snapped a few pics.
These pictures were taken one right after another. You would think that I stuck them in a white room!
It was so warm, Isabel pulled her pants up to look like shorts.
Cole, on the other hand, opted for full camouflage gear and then complained about being too warm.
We saw a baby ducks and practiced our rock skipping.
And, as always, the kids hunted for rocks.
It was a great afternoon!
I was about Cole's age when I got my first camera. It was one of those that had film shaped like a disc and you inserted it into your camera like you put a CD into a portable CD player. Does anyone else remember those?
Anyway, we went hiking out at Lemoine Point the other day and I decided to leave the big camera at home. My kids opted to take their cameras to make up for my laziness.
Here is our adventure from Cole's point of view.
*Right before Cole took this picture Isabel said, "I feel like rock climbing." Get it?
I'm always amazed at what kinds of things my kids see as an interesting picture. So far, I think Cole has pretty good eye. It's no wonder art is one of his best subjects.
Hopefully Isabel took some nice photos as well. If she did, that will come next.
Our adventure continued after our heavenly pancake experience when we set off to find the old rusted out car that Clay and I found last summer while wandering around the trails.
Rocky gulches and dense trees made the area perfect for exploring.
It actually turned out quite simple to find what we were looking for and a great time was speculating about how the relic got there in the first place - car chases, gansters, and shootouts were all very popular. My favorite one had to do with bathtub gin.
After that, we took the road less travelled and walked the trails back to our car. It was snowy and muddy and the kids were wearing their brand new shoes. Oh well, sometimes you can't plan for these things.
There's even proof that I was there.
Clay even bought some seed so we could feed the chickadees. Here the kids are hoping to entice the birds to come close.
Eventually it worked.
All-in-all, the weather was beautiful and it was great day spent outside having fun together. I'm so glad we could share it with my mom and dad.
It's spring break here in Kingston and the weather decided to warm up for the occasion. My parents came to visit for a few days and while they were here we were able to check out Maple Madness.
The Little Cat. Reservation Area puts Maple Madness on every year for the few weeks when the Maple Syrup is running.
They have areas set-up to show how Maple Syrup used to be made way back when the term "stainless steel" never existed...
and they show how the process has changed throughout history.
And, of course, they have the fancy new modern system that carries most of the sap they collect from the trees to the evaporator.
It's almost like seeing a vast system of veins connecting the trees. Admittedly, it's a little weird.
But the maple syrup is to die for.
And it tastes best served on top of these pancakes - crisp on the edges, light and fluffy in the middle - mmmmmmmm!
More Maple Madness adventures to come!
I finally got my CPIC so I went on a field trip with Isabel's class to the Little Cataraqui Conservation Area today.
I love this age of children. They're old enough to function on their own and they're still really enthusiastic about the world. The kids in my group were the best kind - good listening, non-hyper, happy children.
We learned about all of the special things that nature has to offer the animals that live out in the world. We learned how to look and listen for those specials things and then we went on a "treasure hunt" to find them.
We found the giant oak trees that give food and shelter to squirrels; we hid among the long lean pines like white-tail deer; and we stayed still and quiet while we watched the black-capped chickadees flit among the bushes.
Isabel's teacher does such a wonderful job with the class. It's always nice to be able to help out when I can. We had a really great time and I feel so lucky to have been able to join the kids on this special trip.
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