Friday night we left home, and arrived at the park just before dark. It was light enough to decide where to put our tent, but we actually set the tents up in the dark. It was not too bad for Rob because he had a flashlight attached to his ball cap and could setup with his hands free, but Karen had to use a normal flashlight. However, this year we did have propane for our propane lantern, unlike our trip to Turkey Point last summer. As Saturday's forecast was calling for significant rain, we wanted to set up our dining tent too, in case we woke up to the pitter-patter of rain. So we got it set up enough Friday night, and straightened it the following morning.
Thankfully, it didn't start raining until after lunch on Saturday, which gave us the morning to finish setting everything up, and arranged to our liking. Then the rain came, and it really rained. A heavy rain for a few hours. But we stayed dry in our dining tent. Stayed dry, that is, if we kept our feet up. A flood plain was created on the ground covered by the dining tent.
Later in the afternoon, the rain stopped and the sun even came out! We went to the beach, to see the waves we had been hearing, had supper and even started a fire. But no sooner had we started the fire than the rain began again. Eventually we went to bed, but our tent was leaking, which did not make me a very happy camper! The water was mostly in puddles around the edge of the tent, but it meant we couldn't really keep anything on the floor.
Sunday morning we left the campsite early to attend church in Aylmer. More rain was in the forecast, so we rain-proofed as much as possible, and took our sleeping bags and pillows with us. I was not trusting that tent!
After a lovely lunch visit with Jon & Denise we headed off to Living Water, for Pastor V's real last sermon. We didn't see much rain that day, until church was ending, when the downpour began. But others had seen plenty of rain that morning already. Anthony & Christine kindly invited us over for supper, so we could stay dry a little longer, and we didn't get back to our campsite until quite late. With some trepidation, I approached our tent, and to my thankful surprise I found it dry! My guess is it hadn't rained at the park since lunch time at the latest, if at all.
Monday dawned clear and sunny! We enjoyed a relaxing day, some biking, met Ralph & Darlene & family on their way in, as well as Uncle John & Renee. (Aunt Rita came later and we didn't see her until later in the week). My parents arrived later in the day to stay for the remainder of the week.
On Tuesday, Rob's parents came to visit for the day, and there was a brief shower, but that was it for the rest of the week! All in all a lovely day - thanks for coming to visit Mom & Dad!
Wednesday was a grey cloudy day, but no rain. Anthony, Christine, Joel & Caleb came to visit us for the day, and we had a really good time. Lots of visiting, a trip to the beach, where the men & boys swam, clambering on the rocks. It was a good day of fellowship.
Caleb
Anthony & Christine
Joel
The lighthouse at Port Burwell...you can see how cloudy and grey it was...but it wasn't raining!
On Thursday, Lisa joined Rob and I on our site, and Arian, Karin, Alex & Erik joined Mom & Dad on their site. And the weather! Warm! Sunny! It was wonderful. We went to the beach Thursday and Friday, got a little sunburned, swam, read -- it was so nice. I do always like a day or two at the beach every year. Thursday we also enjoyed a surprise visit from Uncle John & Aunt Mary.
Then on Friday, the typical D. family fun began. We had been observing at Thursday night's campfire that the fire pit on Mom & Dad's site was a little high. Observe Exibit A below, with Karin's orange shoe as a reference point.
So, the men determined to rectify this situation. A little digging quickly determined the fire pit did not have a bottom, so moving it would be easy.
This, of course, brought back fond memories of rippling muscles from some number of years ago, when at another park, the location of the fire pit in the campsite was rather absurd. So Dad moved it. And how the muscles rippled. Since back then, Arian wasn't so big, and that fire pit was a grill on top of a concrete slab. Concrete. Equals. Heavy.
This time, the grill was much lighter and there were more men! Including Alex :)
The fire pit is out of the way.
Digging the hole deeper.
Alex helping by trucking away some of the dirt.
Measuring...but how primitive a method...
Have no fear, Uncle Rick...we did have all the tools we needed! A tape measure...
 ...and a level! |  |
There...now the fire pit is back in the hole, sitting much deeper.
Oh! and some surprise visitors while we were mid-dastardly-deed!
Oh well, continue the work, and do the back filling...Alex helped out again.
And finally, Exibit B - note again Karin's orange shoe as a reference. Side benefit, a short-lived mini sand-box for Alex, since it was now ash-free for a few hours.
Lisa & Erik watched the proceedings...
As did Karin...
And now, some beach pictures, which are mostly of one very dirty little boy.
Arian has always liked digging big holes at the beach. Alex joined in helping him.
Who needs seagulls when Alex is there? He certainly worked on eating his lifetime sand quota during our afternoons at the beach. If we dropped a chip or a grape, Alex would pick it up and eat it!
Erik, on the other hand, stayed a lot cleaner. He slept most of the time.
Port Burwell has a dog beach, so that's the beach we went too. Terri LOVES swimming. Mom and Dad had taken her swimming earlier in the week, and they had biked down to the beach. For the trip back to their campsite, they had to pretty much drag the dog back, as she was so tired. It is a common site for dogs to strain at their leash...usually 6 ft ahead of their owners. Not this time! Terri was 6 feet behind.
Friday night's campfire, in the much-better-positioned fire pit! :)
And Terri treed a racoon...isn't he cute? :) He and his friends weren't so cute when they woke me up early Friday morning, snarling at each other as they had found and fought over food in the campsite next to us!
And one final picture, our campsite.
All in all, it was a very good week. After the weekend, there was practically no more rain, and it was beautiful weather by the end of the week. Which is good for taking down camp too...that's no fun in the rain either! Overall, the weather was great, and we had good fun, good food, good fellowship with the friends and family God has given us.
Now Rob was back to work today, and I'm back to work tomorrow...
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