Camping on the beach

We enjoyed a quick weekend getaway in our new-to-us tent trailer, staying at Golden Lake campground, in a site right on the water.

The weather was decent, the lake was lovely, the campground was, well, a bit close and a bit crowded, but it was fun.

We took a day trip to Bonnechere caves. It wasn't really what I was expecting, the caves were neat, but you couldn't explore or even walk through without a tour guide who talked incessantly, mostly about the 'adventures' of the caves' owner, and who really rather rushed the process (plus our tour group was around 25 people, which is a lot for tight subterranean caves). That said, Katie LOVED it. And Jonah HATED it. LOL, on the plus side, helping Jonah deal with his abject terror kept my mind away from any claustrophobic thoughts!

(Don't let that smile fool you - he was miserable).

All too soon it was time to bid the beach good bye. Can't wait for our next adventure!

In a jam

For once we managed to get a couple of buckets of cherries from our sour cherry tree before the birds got to them (is it all the rain that delayed their cherry feast?)

I decided to make cherry jam. I've never made sour cherry jam before, and I don't know why, it's AMAZING! The contrast between the tartness of the cherry bits and the sugary jelly. I hope the birds leave me a few pounds next year because these jars probably won't even last until fall...

Happy Canada Day?

We attempted to do Canada Day on the Hill (not the whole day, just the early part, there was a concert by Carly Rae Jepsen (who the kids love) and an appearance by Commander Hadfield (who I love!). It was awful (not Carly Rae, or Cmdr Hadfield, they were awesome, what little of them we saw). The hill was crowded beyond even my wildest dreams, and security was ridiculous, a queue over a kilometre long to get to a security checkpoint manned by 3 police officers searching bags, etc, then 150 or so cops all along the perimeter of the hill who's sole job it appears was barking at little kids who wanted to climb up on the walls that hold the fencing so that they could see what was going on.

I understand the 'need' for security (I don't, but I'm trying to be magnanimous) but my tax dollars, and the tax dollars of the thousands of other people who simply didn't want to queue up for 2 hours in the heat to see a 15 minute show, pay for every aspect of this, the building, the 'security', the entertainment. And we're denied enjoyment of what we've funded. The bad guys have won.

(here's a cute picture, so that the entire post isn't a complete downer)