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This vacation has been an incredible adventure. I can't believe we've been gone from home for so long. Our family has loved having this time together and we've had an amazing time. We are both sad and happy that today is our last full day in Ontario. Tomorrow we head home.

Nate's birthday was great. He loved having some time with people he hasn't seen in ages. There are aunts & uncles, many cousins younger and older, and family who have become friends. The Barker's are a crazy lot. The stories I've heard this weekend! Apparently they all had a little more fun at my wedding than I realized! The boys have enjoyed meeting the entire crew and have had a blast with some fun people.

Today we headed off to the scenic caves which were really interesting. It was quite a feat to walk through the moss-covered rocks and rickety stairs. There was one point called "Fat Man's Misery" where there was only 36" of clearance. Jericho and his Dad went through as I was a little nervous about the claustrophobia. Jericho loved it. He even said "This is a memory I will never forget." I think he's referring to the whole trip, because we feel the same way.

There was a little bit of worry the evening of Nate's birthday though as Jericho had a sore tummy for a few days. As he sat down to dinner, he told Nate that he was going to throw up. Nate responded with the typical parental response: "You'll be fine." Then he puked. We took turns sitting with him as he did vomit a few more times, but around 11:30 pm we started to worry as he was writhing in pain and asking us to help him. So we took him to emergency (both boys ended up in emergency on this trip!!). The doctor was kind, took his time looking him over.. but all he could deduce was that it must have been a stomach bug. No one has exhibited similar symptoms so we're hoping he was just the only one that caught it. Maybe food poisoning or something??

There is a girl here who is dating Nate's cousin and she's participated in Disney on Ice. She was Belle. The boys are enamoured with the fact that she knows Mickey and Goofy.

Our rooms are all disasters. There is a lot of stuff we need to clean so we can leave early in the morning. Then we will be on our way home.

It's been an adventurous endeavour where we've learned to hold tight to those we love, to invest time in each other; to stop and take pictures of random items along the way; to take the scenic detour whenever possible; to be silly; to relax; to give hugs whenever possible; to enjoy the afternoon and sleep-in in the morning; to listen; to dance and sing; and so many other treasures.

We love you, we miss you, and we're coming home.

Brought to you by The Blue Mountains

We have now moved an hour and half further east to a town called Collingwood. Specifically, we are nearby the local ski hill which would be severely made fun of if it was anywhere near our mountains. It's really more akin to a hill than a mountain. This weekend is the entire reason for our trek. These few days are what we travelled across Canada for. My Mother-in-law's family is getting together for the long weekend and there are many of them we haven't seen in forever. Our rental home is a tri-plex (but we're only renting two of the units) with 8 bedrooms in each side. It's massive. We are blessed as a little family to have two bedrooms!!!

Our last rental ended in an interesting way. My Father-in-law found the rental as he knew the people who lived across the street. The neighbours ended up coming over a few times and even lent Ted their motorboat! So yesterday the plan was to take most of the grandkids for a little ride. They ended up stuck in the middle of Lake Huron for a few hours. It was more difficult for me as the Mom to be waiting and worrying, but the boys had a great adventure and Jericho now mentions it to just about every stranger who says hello. They were amazingly rescued by a sailboat named Sea Biscuit. These kind strangers pulled in the broken motorboat.... well maybe not pulled as much as tugged along at a snail's pace. It's really too bad they weren't rescued by someone travelling maybe a tiny bit faster. When my Dad heard this news he asked if we were sure it wasn't a rowboat.

*** This little bit is for my Dad****

My Dad would hate Ontario. Yes, it's beautiful and I'm sure he would find some fun stuff to do. There are some lovely wind turbines and gigantic combines and other bits of machinery he would love to look at. BUT - in the past week I have seen about 10 Tim Hortons and ZERO Starbucks!!! Horrors!!

*** OK - all done : )

Another interesting end to the cousins adventure was the washing machine quitting. Do you know how much laundry is produced with 13 people, 5 of those people being small children who are going to the beach everyday? I'll tell you, it's a lot. Ample. Oodles. Apparently it was too much for the archaic machine in the rental house. It reached the end of it's proverbial rope.

I asked Nate tonight if this is a good length of time for a vacation. He smiled and said that yes, he's had a great time. Tomorrow is his birthday, my husband is turning 34. We don't have plans for the day as of yet, but tonight we took the family to Swiss Chalet to celebrate as we had a few more gift certificates left.

Clementine is doing well too, but I think she's itching to get on the road again. She stalled a few times during the days we didn't travel far. We're still getting looks all the time and little kids waving at us. It's been a blast.

Cousin Adventures Continue...

The past few days have been filled with the following: beaches, sand, sun, laughter, chiding, crying, jumping, singing, dancing, playing, sea gull chasing, swimming, sand castles and sand dragons, movies, food, 8 adults parenting 5 children, rain, laundry, indecision over what to do, pictures, reading and fun.

We usually start the day with Jericho and his grandparents being up first. There are 3 bedrooms in this place and 4 family units. Greg & Sam have the downstairs bedroom with Malik and Ashiah, Dave & Noel have one upstairs bedroom with Daveigh, we are in a bedroom with three single beds, and Ted & Marie are in the open atrium on an air mattress. It’s crowded and each room has it’s own limitations, but most of us tend to sleep until at least 9 am. Jericho is an early riser compared to everyone else and soon the entire place is up.

At some point we decide whether or not we want to head to the beach and then work hard to pick a good one. Each beach in the area has good points and bad ones. Singing Sands is a bit too far, so we haven’t head there yet. Lion’s Head is a great beach for the kids with shade and it’s usually quiet, but the water is frigid. Sauble Beach is nice with sand for miles and beautiful water, but parking is expensive and it’s always crowded. This morning we didn’t even have crepes made by Uncle Greg until 11 am!

For the past two days, we’ve packed a lunch and headed to the beach. It usually wears the children out nicely to play hard for a few hours in the heat. The kids all play so great together.

Today we ended up splitting into two groups. Greg & Sam went with Grandpa for a hike in Lions Head while the rest of us went to the playground. We had fun until the daycare centre showed up with 20 plus kids! It was a very laid back day. Nate made an amazing soup for dinner, and we had a campfire on the beach complete with smores, sing-a-longs, and sparklers. Uncle Greg even did a little magic that made the fire change colours!!

Of all the cousins, Jericho stayed up the latest and went to bed at 10:30. It’s been fun week so far, only a few more days to go : (

For those who are missing us, the boys have been very homesick, especially Jericho. He misses his toys.

The Day the Cousins Arrived!!!

I realized that I haven’t explained what it’s like driving around in the van. Due to the fact that there is zero air conditioning, all the windows are down. The motor is in the back and quite loud. So while we drive down the road, it’s quite difficult to hear if there are any issues in the backseat. I can hear “Mommy!!” once in awhile and “Help!!” or whatever, but a lot of the time it takes ages to find out what the problem is. Whichever parent is not driving, ends up walking to the backseat to figure things out. Not the safest, but unless we figure out a different mode of conversation we’ll need to make do.

Today was a very exciting day for my son. He woke up at 7:30, hoping his cousins were here. We had to explain that they were due to arrive this evening. But Daddy made a great breakfast and we tried to organize what we wanted to do for the day. Mommy & Daddy cleaned Clementine inside and out and found a moldy laundry line which may have been the reason it was so stinky. Then we headed to the car wash and finished the job. Meanwhile, Grandma & Grandpa were adventurous and took the boys to the grocery store.

We received a call that the rental house would be receiving a showing at 1:30 as the owners had been trying to sell this place for awhile (it’s quite nice if anyone is looking!!) so we made plans to go to Sauble Beach. I had no idea what to expect, but as we drove into town and saw the lines and lines of cars and the packed beach, we remembered that it was a Saturday. The sign as we drove up said “Welcome to the best beach in Ontario. It was stunning, I admit… but incredibly busy.

The beach went on and on for miles and the sand was gorgeous. The water was warm with some waves which brought much joy to the kids. It was a fun couple of hours until we returned to our vehicles to find a pair of parking tickets. Apparently we didn’t park on the proper angle, which is hard to do if the vehicles on either side are a certain way. Nate and his Dad are both refusing to pay. Here, here!!

Ashiah made her arrival not long after we returned from the beach and Jericho was elated. He hugged her, gave her a birthday present, and happily played with her and her cousin Malech who has also joined us for the week. Malech happens to be 5 days older than Jericho and gets along spendidly with my boys.

But we noticed that due to the fact the boys went to bed at 11 pm last night, they needed to go to bed on time tonight before their other cousin arrived and while Malech and Ashiah continued to play.. which is a little sad, but we know what works for them – enough sleep!!

So we’ll see how tomorrow goes, should be fun!!!

Family Week!

When we started out planning this trip, we really weren’t sure what to expect. Since I was a small child I’ve always struggled with motion sickness. A road trip across Canada doesn’t seem like the brightest idea when driving a short distance sometimes makes me puke. The beauty of Clementine is that she doesn’t seem to go fast enough for that to be a problem. There was only one day where I felt sick and it was because I was reading in the backseat! Honestly, the entire experience as of yet has exceeded my expectations, in spite of one bad night. The boys have been well-behaved, my husband has had the ability to relax and I have realized that camping isn’t bad. I only wish I could somehow eradicate all mosquitoes.

Today was laid back. We did a bunch of laundry, hit the beach a few times and enjoyed a fun dinner with Grandma and Grandpa! We’ve rented a house for a week with Nate’s family. So far it’s just his parents and us; with his siblings arriving tomorrow. We were expecting Ashiah today and had to let Jericho know they’ve been delayed until tomorrow. He was sad for a bit, but he has now moved “the best day ever” to tomorrow (due to her arrival).

There was much deliberation that occurred with the selection of our rental as we are a large crew. It was hard to find a place that worked for everyone and in the end this place fell in our lap. It’s really quite nice. There’s a large deck with a view of the lake and a path down to the water. Jer and Kai are quite excited about the bunk beds and the rest of us will figure out how to squeeze in.

Malachi has been quite the ham lately. He had the chef of our amazing fish and chips lunch wrapped around his finger. I was horrified when he asked her why her tummy was sooo big (it was), but she was gracious and sat down next to him and chatted him up. At dinner he had the waitress smiling and commenting on how cute he was. While at the grocery store, Jericho introduced him as the little guy and Kai proceeded to show off his karate skills. I need to get him in some classes because he’s so funny!

There is also someone else in our party who is receiving a lot of attention. Clementine gets many stares, smiles and comments. On the road she gets honks and waves (most of them nice). At one point there were three people talking to Nate about what year she was and how long he’d had her, etc. Bruce’s Peninsula apparently likes their Westfalia’s! We also caught a glimpse of Petunia on our way home from dinner tonight. Funny how I use the term home, considering our home has had wheels for the last few months.

After I had blogged last night, the boys were in their motel bed telling each other stories. Jericho had scammed Malachi into telling most of them. It was hilarious. One of them involved a giraffe being eaten by a bear. Then a duck came along and she was also eaten by the bear. Then the bear ate a light and the light lit up the bear’s tummy. Seriously. Jericho kept insisting on a story about a rescue dog throwing an airplane back into the sky. Where did I get these kids? There ideas have been crazy of late. Currently their favourite game is ‘flood;’ Noah style. “Everyone run, all the animals are dying and and…..” the antics continue with zany craziness. Boys will be boys.

Tomorrow is a sad day, it’s my cousin’s funeral and I’m not able to be there or with my family. I’ll think of all of you and wish I was there to give hugs and remember Mike. He was a great kid and a fun cousin! It’s surreal to think that he’s gone.

Research

We didn't travel much today and soon you will find out why. Yes, we found a wondrous campsite last night and we were very excited about it. But Nate and I each only slept about 2 hours the entire night. Between the sweltering heat and the inability to open too many windows due to swarms of mosquitoes and a little one who had a few too many nightmares... it was an unpleasant way to spend a night to say the least.

The irony is that we looked for the perfect campsite where we could put up camp for a few days and just relax. If it wasn't for the heat and the bugs, it would be paradise I'm sure. So we decided that tonight was destined to be a hotel night. There's no way we will risk our rest for a second night in a row. It was difficult to choose a place as we weren't sure what we were looking for. At first we thought it would be good to find an indoor pool so the boys could swim with their lifejackets and we could chill by the side of the pool.. but there weren't many hotels that offered that as an amenity. We stopped by one place that had a huge indoor pool, but the parking lot was empty as was the restaurant in a very touristy town named Tobermorey, the top of Bruce's Peninsula. The next motel I stopped at was full, and as I asked for recommendations she said "Whatever you do, don't go next door." Sure enough when we googled reviews on the place we had just visited, they had received a tonne of negative comments.

So we skipped the pool and headed for a newer motel which actually looks more like a large house. Any Maple Ridge folks would akin it to the place next to the Pumpkin Patch, but this one is much nicer. There's a koi pond and a hot tub and the beds, bathroom and entire room is beautiful.

We really needed a break after last night and we're praying for plenty of sleep tonight. Thank goodness for windows, walls, air conditioning, and huge double beds!!

July 20th Belated

Distance Travelled: 465 kms

Today was a whirlwind. Our only goal was to make it across the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry to Tobermorey and once that was accomplished we had no idea what to do with ourselves.

Thanks to Google, we’ve found a little piece of heaven off the beaten track. We’re in a little place called Miller Lake on the Bruce Peninsula about 35 minutes off the ferry. For a little while we had started to doubt the GPS, but just because there’s a dirt road doesn’t mean there isn’t something worthwhile at the end. Now, I will say we have yet to encounter a campsite with mosquitoes this bad. There were actually swarms of them and it did take us about 30 minutes to find all those bloodsuckers in Clementine. In spite of that… the owner is absolutely the nicest lady and our site is incredibly private and quiet.

The trees are rustling once more outside (there is no way I’m going back out there!!) and I’m sitting with Clemie waiting for the boys to doze off while Nate takes a shower. It would appear that for today, we are still on BC time as it’s currently after 11 pm.

We bought both breakfast and lunch today in our haste to make the 5:50 pm ferry, as the next one would have been 10 pm! As we pulled up at Wendy’s, though we found Clementine’s long lost older sister, Petunia! She was the same colour and everything. The owners asked if we were planning on heading up to Serpent River as that’s where a large gathering of VW buses was taking place. As tempted as we were, we really needed to find a place to stay on the other side of the ferry to allow the boys less time in the van. They were so nice and even had two sons of their own!

The ferry ride was interesting. Nothing at all like BC Ferries, in many respects. The boat was much smaller, but somehow looked huge. There was also much pomp and circumstance to each arrival and departure. In BC, it happens all the time so people don’t tend to wave, honk, etc.. but after this ride they sure did! There also seemed to be a lot of alcohol consumed on this boat which didn’t seem like the smartest of ideas. Jericho and I went outside at one point to take a few pictures of this beautiful lighthouse and when we were making our way back inside, we saw this little girl of about 4 or 5 crying. I asked if she was going in or out (as she seemed to gotten stuck between the two sets of doors) and she sobbed that she wanted to go outside. Then I asked if she needed help finding her Mom and she nodded through tears. So Jericho and I took her to the crew member nearby and Malachi noticed the excitement and tagged along. As we were walking towards the play area her Father came up and hugged her, letting her know he’d been so worried. I watched for a moment as I saw the woman I recognized as her Mom (it was a small boat) as she just sat there and watched her daughter sob to her Dad. Maybe it’s just me, but if my child had been missing, I might have made a little bit more of a scene!

We are very close to the end of our journey on this end. In fact, if the mosquitoes weren’t so bad, we might just stay here until Friday evening. The place we are staying at with Nate’s family from July 22 – 29^th is about 45 minutes from here. So on one hand it seems silly to venture far from the area. But on the other hand, I was so looking forward to seeing the Niagara area once again and showing the Falls to the boys. We’ll see how we feel tomorrow.

Thank-you to those who have sent notes saying you miss us. We miss everyone back home too! We felt we were being reminded of home often today as we passed by Maple Ridge Road as well as Maple Ridge Campgrounds, and they were both hours apart from one another! At this point I need to send a special note of condolence to my aunt as there doesn’t seem to be a way for me to travel back for my cousin’s funeral. This breaks my heart, and I hope she understands.

Until I write again…