Camping Trip #2

And THAT is why Keziah was so excited in the last picture of my last post. While everybody (well, it feels like everybody) was heading to school, we were busy packing to head out to Port Burwell for a week. And what a beautiful week we had! One highlight was definitely the weather, which was about 10-12 degrees warmer than our camping week in August. It was also a lot drier. Well, it was after the first night. The first night we had quite the storm and tonnes of rain. Again we were so thankful for our trailer. "They" were also calling for more rain the next day but much to our pleasant surprise, we hardly got any and the day was very nice! We didn't see any rain again until the day we left, on our way home.

A second highlight was going to Aylmer's URC, a church we visit every Thanksgiving Sunday when camping at Turkey Point. We enjoy going to this church as we are fed spiritually with the true preaching of the Word, we get to listen to a congregation that sings in harmony (talk about chills), and the fellowship is a blessing. This congregation is very welcoming. You don't stand by yourself for more than 10 seconds without someone coming up to you to talk to you. We also were invited to a kind family's home for lunch! Oh, and I met someone who just so happens to read this blog (Hi, Denise!!), someone who I didn't know before but recognized us from the pictures and introduced herself as a reader. That was pretty neat!

A third highlight (and then we'll get to pictures :o) is the park itself, Port Burwell Provincial Park. It is a very nice park, with big sites, a large playground and very clean comfort stations. The one thing we were quite disappointed in was the beach. I can just hear those of you who go there in the summer gasp in surprise. I know. I have also seen pictures of the beach where it is beautiful and the water so nice. But when we went, the beach was posted for high levels of bacteria. It stayed posted for 5 days. We did check it out anyway on the first day but we saw why it was posted: there were thousands upon thousands of sea gulls. Well, we all know that sea gulls are not the cleanest birds. They are known to have another, rather vulgar, name for good reason. It was utterly dis.gust.ing. And what was attracting these sea gulls? The dead fish that were lying about all over the beach. Oh well. It is Lake Erie afterall, not the deepest and cleanest lake around. We didn't let it damper our trip, though. We still had piles of fun as a family!! Let me show you :o)

We first went out for breakfast on the day we left. Lincoln is deciding which dessert he would like to have :o)

Once at the site, someone was worried about the truck rolling away

I wish I knew how to photoshop, because I believe a bright red fire hydrant is needed in this picture to complete it :o)

Lots of fun at the park!

"Braving" the big spider web. At least she went on it!! Once.

"How can I get up there?"

We picked up this Chariot Bike Trailer/Stroller off of Kijiji (gotta love that site!!) for a fantastic price right before we left. Both kids love it and are often seen holding hands. It is so cute!

A picture that makes my heart beat fast.

Fixing up the tarp after the storm

Some fun with mom!

"Does she always have to do this to me? I am a boy afterall!!"

Keziah finally could enjoy a fire without covering her eyes. She learned the skill of roasting a marshmellow. The next skill? To actually enjoy eating the roasted marshmellow. She likes her marshmellows "just white, mom."

As you can see, the first one took awhile. I think it was ready the next day :o)

Ahhh! Relaxing by reading!!

Crawling boy + play yard = Happy Mom!! (with the added bonus of boy being happy, too!)

"Eating a juicy peach" stance:

First time eating ice cream. I think he likes it.

The first time we hit the beach to play at, we went to Beach 5. We noticed lots of cars (around 25 or more) parked there so we thought that was the best spot. We crested over the sand dunes and saw 2 other couples. That's it. Later on we figured out where the occupants of those other cars were: waaaaaaaaaaaay down the beach. Why? Because it's nicer there? Um. Nope. Can you guess why??! We decided Beach 5 was good enough for us afterall. Besides, we thought our 3 year old was a little young for an anatomy lesson.

The "nice clean/clear" water, with one of the many dead fish floating in it:

He just doesn't stay put!! See in the far bottom right corner? That's the blanket. Quick as a flash, he is off and running crawling

Playing Boggle with dad :o))

And lastly, here are two things Lincoln learned over the week, one being giving kisses:

and the other being: pulling himself to standing! Doesn't he look so proud of himself?!

We are so blessed to have this time together as a family, which really is the best highlight of all. We praise God for blessing us richly this past week. It is quite something to live a simplfied life for a week, enjoying God's creation and the blessings around us.