Cicada

This bug scared me, when I first saw it. It's so big, and I didn't know what it was. Daniel didn't mind holding it though. And he said "whoh!" when it flew out of his hand.

Initiation

To get Daniel into our holiday routine, we decided to do a one night camping trip. We had to break the news to him that, although our neighbours across the road may go to the Bahamas for a vacation, his very own family happens to do something drastically different.

I'm not sure if he really cares that he's missing the crystal blue water and pure sandy beaches. I think we convinced him that the somewhat sandy beach at Massasauga campsite 511 was just as good, if not better. After all, there weren't very many waves--only when a motorboat happened to be going through to the docks at the other side of the lake. (We had tried, rather too late, to get site 512 as recommended to us, but got second best instead. Our beach wasn't quite as sandy, since it got murky and weedy a few meters in. But the first part was very shallow, and the kids loved it, nevertheless.)

Daniel thought the cuisine was a bit lacking, so he tried "living off the land". He didn't manage to get a whole lot of nutrients this time around, but I'm sure he managed to get a fair bit of ruffage. With practice he will probably improve the nutrient to ruffage ratio.

He, like his siblings before him, found the boating accommodations to be very restful, after an initial display of dissatisfaction (presumably because of a dislike of the colour).

The rest of the gang did very well. (Excepting one bout of something or other that I'll refrain from rehashing.)

As for myself, I was enjoying the outing immensely, until my husband says;
"Guess what I just saw when I was getting this firewood?"
"Bear droppings?"
"No."
(A long list of other potentially gross things that could be found in the woods goes through my head.)
"What DID you see?"
"A rattlesnake. When I pulled out that big dead branch I heard it rattling, then I backed away from it."
The rest of the trip, which was most of it yet, had the added burden of needless motherly paranoia.

As much as I like endangered species, for my own peace of mind, we'll be avoiding The Massasauga until the kids are a bit older, and can be trusted to follow a bit of common sense when playing in the bush.

Good Morning Little Ant

And other little ant
and other little ant
and other little ant
and....

Mommy's there's hundreds and millions of ants all over the house again!

Can we vacuum them for you Mommy?
(PLEASE DO!)

There's one over here, Melanie!

I got it Nathan!

I'll eat any that I find.

early birds

Let the good times roll...

well, I shall roll, at least.
I, the walking bubble.

Here's me winning at scrabble.
I always win. Even when I don't.


What Canadian can resist posing with an RCMP moose?

Now that I've been in Ontario for quite some time, the time has come to do at least one touristy thing.
The CN Tower was the one thing chosen.

Hey, it's actually pretty high.
There's a lot of buildings out there,
and not a mountain to be seen anywhere!

But I can now agree that the Great Lakes are great.

Very big indeed.

I was disappointed with a few things about the CN Tower, but over all, it was still nice to be there. Thankfully it wasn't too busy when we went, as we were early risers compared to most people (though still not very early). The glass floor, which I imagined was an entire floor of the CN Tower was in actual fact, a very minimal portion of it. Sure it was cool to look down, but I really thought the WHOLE level was going to have glass flooring. And even the main floor you couldn't see out all the sides, since there was a restaurant there as well as there being the 360 Revolving restaurant above us. We also went to see the movie, but there was such a scant amount of technical information that the 20 movie seemed more of a back-patting video than an educational clip.

Would I go up the CN Tower again?
For family or out of town visitors, I think I could handle it without being too cynical.
But not on my enthusiasm and interest alone.

Algonquin, Aug 26, Wednesday

Aug 26
Another rest day.

Check out the luxurious accommodations! A picnic table!! "That's not roughing it," says my husband! (Yes, he's very hard to please.)


It's been a while since my beautiful self has been displayed...so I used the self timer to get this fabulous shot. If you look real close you can see that laundry was not a top priority this week. In fact, I refused to wash anything but dishes all trip long, with the exception of the face cloth that was used very frequently for very grubby faces.

The only big wildlife we saw was a bear cub. It was just across the water from our site. Over there somewhere. Can you see it?

It's LONG gone.
We were eating lunch when Phil heard it splashing in the water. Melanie squawked about something or other. It turned and fled. We all turned around to have a look, and the quick ones of us got a glimpse of it. I made sure the food pack was hanging up high enough that night--some nights were a bit sloppy, but not this night!


Waking up from nap time is always easier when a snack is involved!


Watching the "roasting marshmellows". We started the campfire a bit early...like 3-ish...so it was a bit more work getting wood enough to last until 9 (the earliest adults can consider going to bed when camping).

Self examination

After some close scrutiny, I have decided my picture looks better than the critters picture of this morning.

I do not like my glasses though. They don't sit right. One nose piece is getting discolored because it doesn't sit right. (Perhaps it's time to go in and get a pro to adjust them AFTER replacing the gross nose piece.)

From that angle I have a lovely double chin. But I'm supposed to be gaining weight right now, it's HEALTHY for me. Bring on the fresh fruits! My midwife feels my diet could use improvement--less fruits for snacks, and more raw veggies and nutty things. Yum. Drool. Haha.

My hair could use some work, but at least I haven't had any acne alerts lately (bonus of pregnancy).

I also note on the photo that it's getting late.

G'night from your best bantering beautiful brightest blogger,
Mommy Roze.
xox

Wanna be a firefly?

Blech.
At least it's diet consists of other bugs, especially cockroaches.
Maybe I'll keep it.