RAINWATER RAMBLING

Angela and Gillian left for camp today. We took them to the bus pickup point. Claudia was sad to see them go. I think Angela's smile is for knowing that Claudia won't be bugging her.

Angela's friend Kylie was also going to camp this week.

Here are Kylie and Angela waiting to get on their bus.

Angela waiting for the bus to leave.

Gillian knew at least one girl going to camp. Here she is with Victoria, I work with Victoria's dad. They were on a different bus than Angela and Kylie.

Claudia waiting for her ride to Camp GrandmaPoppa. The girls all got their haircut last week, here is Claudia after Mom curled it.

Claudia with her sleeping bag and pad.

If anyone wants to drop the girls a line at camp, you can send an e-mail and it will be printed off and delivered to them. It should be a text message only, no pictures,etc. Send the e-mail to wyokacamper@wightman.ca and put the following in the subject line.

Gillian, Cedars 654-7

or

Angela, York House 652-6

It was exactly a year ago today that we started our epic journey to the west and back. The "Are We There Yet?" blog was created for the trip to keep others up date on our progress.

Happy B-day Mom!

Gillian and Angela are heading to Guide Camp this week, we drop them off at the bus tomorrow and pick them up next Saturday. Susan had the opportunity to talk to one of Angela's camp leaders about her medication and allergies. The girls are pretty excited, hopefully they have good weather. Claudia is going to Camp GrandmaPoppa for a few days. I'll have a couple of days off at the end of the week for an extra long weekend.

It was a quiet week on the blog last week. The girls were at Carolyn and Danny's for the week, so Susan and I were taking advantage of the time. We got out to dinner a couple of times and we saw Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. It was good, long, but still good. I'm heading to Regina this week for work, if I see anything interesting, I'll post it on the work blog.

We were out at Stam and Brenda's for dinner on Sunday. We hadn't been out to their place since they had their addition put on. It turned out really nice. Kira was pretty excited the girls were coming over.

Claudia relaxing on their floor.

Gillian enjoying the "cable tv".

Kira has lots of dress up clothes.

Gillian trying on a tutu.

Stam reading the ingredients, one more time.

Kira digging into dessert.

Claudia in action eating her dessert.

We hit one more beach to end the week. We went to Brian and Kathy's trailer up at Lake Belwood, near Fergus, Ontario. I use to work with Brian, and we usually get together a couple of times a year. Compared to the shallow waters of Lake Erie and Huron, Lake Belwood gets deep quick. The girls enjoyed it just the same.

Hang on!

Claudia taking the long way into shore.

There is a big playground at the park.

And a little rock wall.

The "Sisters and Mom" pose.

Brian starting the marshmallow fire.

Brian lighting some sparklers for the girls.

The girls writing their names.

Angela and Gillian playing with the fire.

This morning we were watching Arthur and there was an episode called "Binky Goes Nuts". Binky Barnes discovers that he has a peanut allergy and how he has to change his usual routine in order to deal with it.

It was kind of fitting for us since yesterday we had breakfast at the MacDonald's in Owen Sound, and we left our pack with the girls epi-pens, etc. on a seat. It wasn't until we got to Sauble Beach that we realized it was missing. I drove back (60km return) and picked it up. We have started Angela wearing a pack, to get her ready for Guide camp, as she will have to carry her meds with her all the time.

After spending the night in Owen Sound at the Days Inn (good pool), we headed to Sauble Beach today. It was busy although I'm sure it is worse on the weekends.

The kids enjoyed it, and the water is shallow, then it goes about chest high on Claudia and then it shallows out again.

Angela getting her spa treatment.

Claudia practising her soccer kicks.

"Two of Three Sisters"

Claudia trying to soak up as much water as possible before we had to leave.

"I'm good"

Most of the family surveyed prefer the quieter beaches of the Pinery over the busy sand of Sauble Beach.

Today we started our mini tour of Lake Huron beaches. We headed to the Pinery Provincial Park for the day. The water was calm and warm.

There was hardly anyone around where we set up. We went to beach access #6, it was a good hike in from the car, so I guess that's why it was deserted.

Claudia with her beach bucket.

The water is shallow and very sandy.

Susan making some sandwiches on our makeshift table.

Gillian getting some spa treatment from her sisters.

Some beach shots.

Gillian's sand castle.

Surf's up!

Angela chasing the beach ball.

And then Claudia.

Angela, the human dam.

The mandatory "Sisters" pose.

Along the trail back to the car.

Trying to capture the bright blue colour of the water.

Drove along Highway 21 up to Owen Sound for the night. Passed a bunch of giant windmills.

I was able to update the blog in the car, should be able to post it when we reach the hotel. We are heading to Sauble Beach tomorrow. So far this has been the girls favourite beach.

Today it rained almost the entire day, so after my allergy shot, we went to see the movie "Over The Hedge". We don't see many movies in the theatre, so it was a special treat. It was pretty funny and from the coming soon trailers, this seems to be the trend, a lot of animated movies geared to the family.

Afterwards we went to Ikea for dinner, fed the five of us for less than $10.00. Went to see if they still had those drawer dividers that I used for the coffee table I made. Shanna went to the Ikea in Calgary after they landed and was told that it was being discontinued. Good thing she checked and called, there was only about 10 packages left, when I bought mine in March there was about 4000 in the computer inventory. I picked some up, hopefully they will fit in Mom's suitcase when she goes out next month.

I am back to work today and tomorrow and then taking the rest of the week off. Susan is still off for another week. Shanna, David and Jesse are leaving early tomorrow, so they are staying the night and I'll drive them to the airport. We had a nice dinner to send them off.

We tried something new for eating and sitting everyone together. With the new floors it makes it fairly simple to setup.We switched the family room and dining room furniture so we had one long table in the kitchen/family room area.

I have been slowly updating the blog with the past week's activities. Either scroll down and read or click on the links to the left in the Happenings! list.

Saturday was a busy day, we started at Mt Pleasant Cemetery for Obon. Obon is the Japanese Buddist holiday to honour the departed spirits of one's ancestors. It is always held on the same weekend in July and we make the effort to attend when we are in town. Afterwards we headed to the Science Centre. Here are the girls playing with the water fountain out front.

We went back to Animal Grossology and did some of the things that we missed or enjoyed the first time we saw it.

Angela trying to lift a heavy piece of wood.

Gillian determining how much water makes up her body weight.

One of the shows this summer is called Shudder Bugs. There weren't very many people in the audience for the 1:00 show.

When the girl asked for a couple of volunteers, Angela and Gillian were called up.

They had to describe what was in their box. this is what was in Gillian's box.

Angela had to describe this arachnid.

They were watching a giant frog being inflated on the stage.

Susan spotted this bird when we were walking along the windows.

After dinner at Carolyn and Danny's we went to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre to watch the Bon Odori Festival.

Here is Angela as a sumo.

Claudia as a geisha.

And Gillian as a taiko drummer.

Alex looking fierce.

And emi playing the drums.

Danny taking pictures.

Check out the one guys hat and the other guy handing out big hashi's.

Part of the JCCC building.

Due to the stable flies, we altered our plan and decided to head to Rondeau Provincial Park, it is about 65km from Leamington.

Gillian making sure Claudia doesn't go for an early swim.

The girls on the pier.

On the way to the beach.

The beaches were sandy, the water shallow and the UV scale was high.

We settled into our spot and spent a few hours on the beach.

Angela making sand cookies.

Gillian displaying her sand rice balls.

Susan soaking up the sun.

Angela and Claudia decided to start jumping over a big hole they dug in the sand.

Then Claudia took a leap.

Claudia with a piece of seaweed on her back, the stuff was freaking Gillian out.

Eventually Gillian got in the water and past the weedy zone.

Looking down the beach.

A "Sisters" pose.

Afterwards we went to the Visitor Centre and they had some live reptiles and amphibians. Here is a five lined skink.

Another "Sisters" pose.

First Angela took a picture.

Then Gillian.

And then Claudia, not sure what she did.

From there we headed home, on the way to London for dinner we went through Ridgetown. On the welcome to sign they claim to be "The Friendliest Town in Ontario". A regular reader of our blog and a blogger herself is from Ridgetown, so this one's for you LP.

There have been no updates the past week, not for lack of internet connection, but for lack of sitting down and putting fingers to keyboard. There is lots to update and by the end of the weekend I'll have things updated.

On Thursday we headed down to Leamington, Ontario and Point Pelee National Park. We were down there a couple of years ago and thought it would be good to go back.

The sign warned us, but how bad could it be? If they put a sign up, then it's bad.

Stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans) look like house flys, except they bite and there is no repellant for them, in fact it may attract them. They were bad near the Visitor Centre, but they were worse down at the tip. Apparently when there is a good north wind, the flies get blown down from the onion fields and then they get stuck down at the tip. Why don't they get blown clear across the lake. We had to take the shuttle down to the tip. Here is Angela, not looking too impressed with the flies.

The flies don't seem to be bothering Claudia.

Down at the tip, Angela couldn't stand still long enough for a picture. Claudia was too busy with a caterpillar she found to be distracted by the flies.

Here is a picture of my foot and ankle, I think there were about 20 flies on me. But see how nice the sand looks.

It looks nice if you keep moving.

Rushing to make the next shuttle, they only run every 20 minutes.

Some cool larvae burrows on a tree, cool to look at, not so cool for the tree.

So long to the tip, I think the next time we come will be during migration time, or we'll call ahead and ask if the stable flies are biting. We did get to see a five lined blue tailed skink, so all was not lost to the flies.

Claudia the fisherwoman.

A little bunny we saw when we left the parking lot, shortly after that we saw a racoon ramble across the road.

We moved further north in the park to the marsh boardwalk. There were hardly any flies.

The view from the tower.

There were lots of lilies in the marsh.

And even some frogs, the one park guy told us we would hear them, but probably not see them. Little did he know that he was talking to some experienced frog catchers.

Susan got lost in the marsh.

Having a break on the trail.

I have been thinking we need a new family picture for the blog. Not sure this is the one, kind of looks like the frog took the picture.

If you look close you can see a bird in the middle of the photo, I guess his nest was somewhere near where I was standing, it kept swooping down at me and each time I had to duck. The park guy warned us about it, and he said to just stick your arm up and they will go for the highest point. Something about a bird attacking my hand didn't sit right, so I took my chances and just ducked every time it attacked.

More of my artistic photos.

Claudia clearing the boardwalk of a bunch of birds that were sitting on the railings.

The girls thought the hair on this birds head was pretty funny.

Angela posing with the salt shaker sign.

After the boardwalk it was onto one of the beaches, they had signs up at the entrance saying the bacteria levels were high and swimming was not recommended.

Not sure what they said they were.

Claudia looking like she means business.

We woke up to gray skies and rain, but the forecast said it would clear by the afternoon. Imagine the forecast being right. Here are the girls in the morning.

We decided to head into Dunville to the Giant Tiger and hopefully by the time we got back it would clear up.

Back on the beach, the sun was out and the water was warmer than the day before. The lifeguard was on duty as well.

Angela checking out her apparatus before heading into the lake.

Jesse.

Bonnie and john have a couple of hummingbird feeders around the cottage.

Uncle David out in the water with the girls

Hang on Claudia!

Angela and Gillian waiting for the current to bring them ashore.

A couple of my artistic beach shots.

It was time for the races. First off was the wheel barrow race.

Followed by the piggy back race.

Next was the sprints.

The final race was the sac race, having no sacs we had to improvise with some old precipitation lid cover bags we use at work. Click the Play button twice to start video.

Then back to the beach.

We made our first stop on our Lake Erie tour. David's sister has a cottage down near Dunnville, on Monday we all went down to spend the day there. We stayed the night and spent Tuesday with Shanna, David and Jesse.

Looking up at the cottage from the beach.

Jesse scooping sand with his digger.

Claudia in her element.

Gillian

Angela

Emi

Claudia waiting for a wave.

Rick and Emi eating cherries.

Alex and Jesse giving Uncle Dale a workout.

Jesse spending some alone time after cousin overload.

Claudia becoming buds with Nikita.

Susan looking like she was meant to have a dog laying at her feet.

Jesse going for a swim with his dad.

Ending the evening with a campfire.

On Saturday July 1st, we (and by 'we', I mean the 'royal we') had a party for Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary. The party was held at Carolyn and Danny's place and a good time was had by all. Shanna, David and Jesse came back for the party and they did most of the excellent food preparation. The weather co-operated for most of the day. Waiting for the guests to arrive.

Claudia amusing us while waiting.

The guests of honour arrive.

Dad and Pat who flew in from Vancouver for the party.

Mom and Dad knew we were having a party, but they didn't know who was coming.

Dad and his friend George who was in their wedding party.

Happy to see Momo, also in from Vancouver.

Mom and Reiko, she made the trip up from Virginia with John and Jamie, James, and grandkids.

Emi having a snack.

Check out the shrimp ball

Most of the Imai clan from Ottawa.

Pat, Lori and Bradley.

Steve and Linda, turns out they knew the person who lived in Carolyn and Danny's house before them.

Carolyn and Jamie.

Pat and Shanna

Claudia enjoying some punch.

John and Reiko with Dad.

Pat on bug patrol duty.

David for fear of banishment trying his hardest not to over cook the salmon.

Mark, Diane and Lori

Uncle San and Dad.

Auntie Margie, Carey and Julie reading some of the best wishes.

Mom first in line for dinner.

We were covered in the event of rain, Lori had borrowed this canopy from a friend at work and it just the right size, see the nice step in front of the deck.

Can you tell it started raining?

Alex, don't put your fingers in the cake!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Jeff and Belinda sailed into Bluffers Park and got a ride to the party.

The kids seem to gravitate to Mo.

Although not as much as they did to Stephane, he had the kids wanting more.

And the big kids busting a gut.

What's a party without balloons?

We had a great time and there hasn't been a big family shin dig in a few years. We were doing the math and you can mark the following years on the calendar; Lori and Dale (2032), Susan and I (2043), Shanna and David (2050), Carolyn and Danny (2054).