Camping in Tobermory...day 3

Today was the day to come back home. Everyone actually slept in...it was nice...

Ryan wanted me to post a picture of the huge tent without the tarp on top so everyone could see how big it was.

Mia, the awesome big sister that she is, decided to help occupy Sydney while we were packing everything up....this is the result...

This was the best camping trip we've had with the kids...I'm so glad we went...it turned out way better then we expected.

See you next year Tobermory!!!

Camping in Tobermory...day 2 afternoon and evening

Once we got back to the campsite, we decided it would be nice to just cross the road and go swimming in Cyprus Lake. It's a great place for small children to swim; soft sand bottom, it's shallow for a long ways out and because of that it's warm. The water is sooo clean, it's amazing.

We hung out at the water for a while, everyone loved it including Sydney. Even Ethan was getting in on the splashing.

Ryan decided that since it was our last day, we wanted to do another hike, so we got out of the water, headed back to the campsite and packed up to go down the Horse Lake Trail. It took about an hour to do the trail (we actually did part Horse Lake, part Bruce Trail.) It went from flat forest trail, over a rock beach and back on flat forest trail again. The kids did super. You should have seen Mia booting along...she was only slowed a bit by the rocks on the beach.

Ethan kept tripping but what can be expected from a kid with his lack of balance on a trail of big round rocks!!! He also wants me to put that there were "thousands of daddy long legs!" (There were lots, but maybe not thousands!)

When we got back to the site, it was starting to rain but Ryan decided to make a fire anyway...rain stopped and we made burgers and hotdogs for dinner...(ummm, Ethan ate a whole package of hotdogs himself! Ewwww!)

After all the big kids went to bed for the night, Ryan and I sat out by the fire with Sydney. It was soooo peaceful and I was just so sad that it was the last night. I held Sydney and she fell asleep in my arms. I'm very disappointed that I didn't get a picture of it, but the image will always be in my memory. It dawned on me, that never again will I hold one of my tiny little babies by the fire...I'll hold my big ones, but the baby stage is almost gone. It makes me very sad.

(to be continued...)

Camping in Tobermory...day 2 Morning

On Wednesday we woke up and went into Tobermory to the Crow's Nest for breakfast. It was yummy as usual.

We came back to the tent and geared up and set out on our hike to The Grotto. It's roughly a 25 minute walk from the campsites over rocks and flat paths. We were really surprised about how well Mia kept up to Ryan and Cody. Sydney got the luxury seat on my chest in the mei tai and Ethan stayed close to me.

When we got to the end of the hike, Ryan wandered off to check out the actual Grotto while the kids and I stayed by the water on the rock beach.

Everyone went swimming, yes even I got my feet wet, since the water was quite nice.

These pictures were taken in a little tide pool beside the lake. The boys found a frog that they were watching, Mia was watching some little fish...and Sydney couldn't figure out why she was sitting in a giant puddle!

Since it was Sydney's nap time, I decided to go back to the campsite with her, Mia and Ethan. That was the first time in 8 years that I done the walk without Ryan. I was sure I was going to get lost (on the clearly marked trail), but I made it back in one piece and in pretty good time.

Ryan and Cody stuck around at The Grotto, swam in the deep water and climbed some rocks. Ryan took Cody down into The Grotto too.

When Cody and Ryan got back to the campsite, we decided to go into Tobermory for ice cream...another thing we make sure to do every year we're there.
We walked around a bit at the marina and checked out the boat that was sitting there, a luxury yacht...I would take the price of it in money anytime. Neat thing was, when we rounded the side...there was the lady sitting out on deck nursing her baby!!!
After the Marina we stopped and watched the Chi-Cheemaun unload and get ready for the next trip from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island. Sydney walked in grass for the first time without shoes...she was very happy with herself.

We all got some ice cream and since I had bought sherbet, Sydney was able to have some one mine too. She makes the funniest faces when she starts eating it, but then she really really likes it.

(to be continued....)

Camping in Tobermory...day 1

We decided to go camping in Tobermory for a few days with all the kids. We went to Cyprus Lake like always.

A few months ago we bought a new tent at Sam's Club for under $100...it's a ten man tent with two rooms...simply put, it's huge!!

The drive to Cyprus Lake was horrible...there was construction and stop and go traffic pretty much the whole way. Poor Sydney wasn't able to sleep like that either and since it was her nap time, I was quite worried about what was to come later that night.

We got to the campsite at around 4:30pm and Ryan started to set up the tent (we'd never even opened it before). We couldn't for the life of us find the instructions of how to put it together, then finally Ryan noticed that they were actually sewn to the inside of the tent's carry bag (what a great idea...you'll never loose them like that.)

All the kids got in on helping too...it was really cute!

This is the first time in 8 years that we actually brought a tarp to put over the tent. It's huge too...18'x24'...and boy were we glad that we had it with us. Tuesday overnight it poured like crazy...if the tent hadn't been covered by the tarp, we would have been soaked!!

This is the inside of the tent to show how big and tall it is.




This is the tent with the tarp over it...do you like our wonderful tying job??

We made a fire and had some hamburgers. This was the first time that Sydney had ever seen a campfire and she was just fascinated with it. She even ate one of the hamburger patties that Ryan made.

"Dad, GIVE ME THAT BURGER!!!!"

After the tent was set up and the campfire was out, we went to a show at the amphitheater about snakes. The ranger, Sean, told us all about Massassauga Rattle Snakes...the only venomous snake in Ontario and they happen to live in the Bruce Peninsula. It was really interesting and the boys learned a lot (all of which they repeated to us on Wednesday during our hike). At the end of the program, we even got to see a real live rattler...Fluffy!!

After that it was back to the campsite and off to bed for everyone....

(To be continued...)