Anniversary / Father's Day Camping Weekend
This weekend Brian and I decided to take Hadley camping. This would be to celebrate our 4th year wedding anniversary and Father's Day.
We decided not to venture too far and headed to Presqu'ile provincial park. http://www.ontarioparks.com/English/pres.html
It is about two hours from home which meant that we could get there Friday night (Friday the 13th) just in time to get our tent set up for a lightening rain storm.
Surprisingly Hadley slept really well and only got up once but really it was just breakfast time. (We just weren't ready to get up yet).
So we fed her and fortunately she went back to bed easily until a more reasonable camping hour to wake up.
Our site 330 (a premium site on the lake for the same price as a regular price) was beautiful to wake up on as we could just unzip the door to our tent and look out onto Lake Ontario.
But after we actually got out of the tent we went to watch some common terns flying and fishing in the lake. These birds are crazy to watch as they fly, back peddle and do an arrowhead dive into the water.
At 10:00 am we joined the tour at the lighthouse to learn a bit about the history of the park. Then we went on a hike of our own to see the shore birds and we were happy with what we saw but the mosquitos were CRAZY!
So we headed to the beach to spend some time with Hadley playing in the sand. The beach was quite a nice beach and it was fun to watch Hadley play in the sand with shovels, pails and other sand tools.
We made some small "castles" which she sat on, but it was all good fun.
By 2:00 pm we had to head back to the campsite to re-book for the night. (The computer system was down the night before so they could only book one night at a time). Sadly our site was booked and we had to move to site 331. It was okay but wasn't as nice. However we still had some view of the lake.
Later we headed into Brighton to browse an antique shop.
We also walked through the town and eventually had dinner at Vito's Pizzeria.
They had excellent service and the food was good also.
We went back to our campsite and sat by the lake showing Hadley how to skip stones.
She eventually just tried to lightly toss them just in front of her and thought this was the funniest thing. (I love her laugh)!
That night we enjoyed a decent fire that lasted longer than we expected as our wood was very dry.
When the fire was dying down close to midnight, I decided to pack up everything and I did so just in time.
You see, just after I had sat down to enjoy the last little bit of the fire, I turned my head lamp to my right and about 3 feet from me was a raccoon! I nearly jumped in the fire!
I think I startled him/her enough to stay away all night!
This is the second time this month that I have had crazy raccoon's try to get so close to me. The other time was on our last garbage day. One tried to climb onto our deck while I was sitting there and then that night another one was on our roof looking at us in our bedroom windows!
I digress.
Today we actually came back to join a tour on the history of how the once island joined the land. (Presqu'ile means almost island).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presqu%27ile_Provincial_Park
Ian our tour guide was quite knowledgeable and personable making this quite interesting.
However, I was tired after the hour plus tour. We did have Hadley walk as much as possible this weekend and it was so cute when she was on uneven terrain and reached out for our hands but I still felt like I carried her quite a bit.
This tour was not stroller accessible so I carried her for most of it. (Don't get me wrong, Brian helped. I was especially thankful for his help up the hill near the end but nonetheless I am tired).
I am sad that I lost my sling a few weeks back and I would like to get another one before another vacation if possible!
Anyway, after the tour we decided to head for home.
We made a stop in Coborne at the Big Apple.
http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/apple.htm
I had never been there before and after sharing a mumble crumble apple pie with Brian, we headed up the big apple to look at the view (of the 401).
We took a few photos and were on our way.
Strollers were not allowed in the gift shop so we skipped that.
We probably didn't need anything from there anyway. :)
I was supposed to play baseball tonight but the thunder storm cancelled that.
So it is a low key evening at home.
Hadley just went to bed and I think I might go to bed soon myself.
All said and done...I would definitely camp with Hadley (and Brian of course) again.
:)