Markham Fair

 So, needing a break already for our late started school year, we decided to go to the fair. After all, homeschoolers were recommending it, and who can say no to such great homeschool rates! We were happy to go.

 We saw a few of the sideshows. This fair reminded me of hometowns fair a bit...same sort of size and feel...a bit.

 And for the first time ever my kids got to go on rides!! I splurged on it and everyone got to pick a ride.

 Really, they were grinning and having fun. Truly. It wasn't a waste.  I hope.  And yes, they had the whole ride to themselves!

 I got to go on the bumper cars with the older four. Fortunately there were a few other people on this ride so there was enough smashing to keep it exciting. Kinda fun. But short. No wonder I've not bought tickets before!

We went home for dinner. Modifying our free fire hat's so they'd stay on.  It was nice to get away from all the noise and busyness for an hour or two. Then we took Daddy along (and he had to pay the normal fair rate, too bad) and watched a demolition derby.  The kids thought that was pretty neat. They did races in figure 8s first. Chilly out but an intersting experience for all.

Cozy

 So I made homey curtains for chickens to nest in.

 And the kids made nice pictures to decorate the walls. Jennifer's wasn't quite done but I wanted to remember it anyways. Such a big picture takes a long time to color!

Algonquin Sept 15

The last day of camping, when the focus is on going back home...always goes by quickly. We packed up slowly, burning garbage one last time. Not enough time to go to the waterslide again (though it was hot enough). Did a last swim on beach full of muscles (probably the invasive zebra muscles). Then we drove to the Barron Canyon walk. 

 Don't slip! From up here, it certainly seems very high!

 There is a canoe down there, but it sure looks small!

Bye bye Algonquin!

We had a pretty long drive home yet, as we're on a further corner of the park than usual. On tiny little country roads. We made it home pretty late! But happy to have had the chance to camp this year!

Algonquin Sept 14

 Yesterday Matthew had a pine cone fall on his head. It was super funny as the squirrel that dropped it seemed to think so too. He tried return the favour, but with no success. Eventually giving up, he played games with Daniel and Evelyn instead. With bows and arrows and buffalo. Sounded like fun!

 Last burn of garbage -- who wants to carry that stuff!

 Things getting tidied up slowly.

 Time to hit the "road". Hit the lake? All packed and ready to go!

 A beautiful day to be traveling, but we've been here before. Just traveling back to our old site on St. Andrews.

 Well, our old site was actually full, so we had to take what we could get. We snatched one that still had flat spots for our tents. The swimming hole was okay, if you kept moving and didn't stand in the weeds where the bloodsuckers were.

We are very close to a very noisy site (they even put a radio on for a bit. A radio in the back country? Seriously???) There loud laughter gets tiring after a while. (Yes, now I know what people think when we pick a site next to them. :p)  I seem to recall where the old waterslide was, so we decide, once the tents are up, to take a jaunt over there.

 Yay! We found it! The kids have a hoot on it. And it's even quiet when we get there. Just three guys, a grandpa and two grandsons.

 There is a rope on the far end to pull yourself out by. Jennifer doesn't realize that this will be her last moment with her baseball cap. We never find it later...must have gone downstream!

I was crabby and made everybody pack up after less than an hour. More people are showing up anyways. The thunderclouds I'd seen over the water as we arrived are much much closer now. As we paddle away we see droves of people paddling to the waterslide to try it out. (Don't they see those thunderclouds?) We hoof it back to our site (my, it was a lot of paddling to get back! We make it time, set up the tarps and hunker down for a bit downpour. What a tonne of water coming down all at once! I'm glad we are back at our site eating dinner (even if we're still getting splashed a fair bit from all the downpour. It's dark, so we head to bed early once the rain is done. We stayed pretty dry, and we're thankful for that!

Algonquin Sept 13

 Early morning fishing, what could be better? Just to the side of our swimming hole the water is a bit deeper and if you cast far enough, you might catch something! We have never caught much before, but here we caught many (very little) fish that I think were small or large mouth bass. They looked very strange when on the hook! Not worth eating, but fun to catch!

 Behind Melanie, you can see that some people had way too much time at this site. There is a bench all around the firepit (which almost looks like a chimney!) and then right behind her is another table! Do watch for mice when it gets to be dust...for they are very used to people! Don't put your mug of hot chocolate down. ;)

 What a beautiful morning!

 Dishes need to be washed before we go for our exploration trip.

 Off we go. Light loads to carry -- just canoes, a day pack, life jackets and paddles. Should be a piece of cake!

 We had one medium portage and a few very short ones...I think.

 And the destination is the Barron Canyon.

 OK, so it looks pretty steep. But a canyon? From the bottom it looked interesting and steep, but we were wondering if the name wasn't a bit stretched.

 It was kinda hot in Canyon and we had time to kill. Why not find that swimming hole that we went to when we had only 3 little kiddoes?

 We followed the river north but when we arrived at Grand Falls, it was no swimming hole. Not the cool water slide we were looking for. We were disappointed, but swam in the river in a calmer place anyways to try make the best of it. We met a lady on one of the portages who showed us a picture of us (from the top of the Barron Canyon) in our canoes at the bottom. Wow, we thought! It is high up there after all! Neat that we bumped into her!

 After a swim and a snack we pack up and head back to our site. After all, we need more food and now we are out of stock!

 Home sweet home. Such an ideal site for us. Open spaces, big and rambling. The tent sites, however, were a little lumpy and hard...but manageable. (Says the one who had a sleeping pad. :o )

 Drinking, drinking. Matthew wasn't put on dishes duty this year, but pumped us lots of water. Which the rest of us dutifully drank.

 Great view over the lake! What a nice and peaceful spot. I felt sorry for the lone guy who camped just across the water from us on our second night here. It probably didn't seem peaceful to him with 8 people making noise just across the water!

Algonquin Sept 12

 We said goodbye to the tables and stockpile of wood

 And paddled back to the portage we zoomed through yesterday.

 This time though, we had to bring our gear across.

 I think we had two medium length portages only.

 The kids are always waiting for me...does that mean they need to carry more?

 We had an interesting section to paddle through after the first portage.

 Looks quite different. Lonely. Reminds me of the book "Lost in the Barrens".

 We made pretty good time and soon we were paddling on Opalescent Lake.

Time enough to go swimming.  Our site had a nice launching spot for swimming (not quite as steep into the water as usual) which the kids enjoyed.. What a beautiful site!