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.

After a blissful week with no kids, we planned an overnight trip to Niagara Falls in order to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa and decide if we wanted our children back...

Or if we were going to send them over the Falls in a barrel instead...

We stayed in Thorold, Ontario which is about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls. There's a Four Points Sheraton there that has really nice family suites. It was a lot cheaper to get one big family suite there than to get two separate rooms anywhere in the Niagara Falls. So if you're thinking of going and you need the extra space, I highly recommend checking it out.

Anyway, despite having lived in Ontario for over a year now, this was our first real trip...anywhere. Normally we just go with the flow and enjoy life around our little city, so it was really great to step-out and see a bit more of this beautiful country we live in. Clay and I have both seen the Falls before, but it was a first for the kids.

We took the Journey Behind the Falls tour.

And spent the rest of the day just enjoying the brilliance of nature. 

The tour was really awesome, but I really love the view from the top. Doesn't it look like I'm about to go over?

The kids really enjoyed themselves. I even got them to take a nice picture together.

Of course, there was this one...

and this one as well.

Oh well, can't win them all.

In the end, we decided against the barrel and just opted for bringing them home with us. After two days of constant noise, I'm having second thoughts.

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.

I'm sorry for the long delay since my last post. Last week was all about survival and I had to cut out some things just to keep my head above water. 

I'm happy to say that the Sydenham Fun Fair was a huge success thanks to the numerous volunteers we had show up and the good fortune of no rain! Unfortunately I can't post all of the photos I took due to privacy laws, but I can post a few choice photos of my own kids enjoying the day.

Isabel stepped out of her comfort zone and got her face painted for the first time. Is it weird that I'm proud of her? Rheni and her team of artists do an amazing job. The kids really love the face painting booth.

She's a pink cat, just in case you're confused.

She also chose to do the crazy hair booth! 

Throw the make-up and hair on top of her pink tie-dyed skirt and she ended up looking like quite a little punk rock feline. At least we have a fall back option for halloween now.

Cole stepped out of his box as well and tried out the rock climbing wall.

He was a little nervous about going too high, but he tried it and that's a good start for him. Isabel on the other hand, despite having climbed many times before, refused to try the wall. Crazy fickle little girl.

Like I said, the day was a huge success and we had a great time. All of our hard work over the past few months really paid off. It's so nice to know we're doing something right! If anyone needs suggestions on how to make their school's spring fair/carnival great, just ask. I'm full of ideas now.

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!