Back at it for the Summer of 2013!

First post, second camp ground, and third day away from home on our Summer adventure.  This time, we've packed up the Echo for 5-6 weeks of camping and visiting in the Maritimes!

It turns out that when it comes to packing up for a long trip AND leaving the apartment in an acceptable condition for tenants to move in, we should just assume it will take until mid-afternoon.  Once again, we only left Montreal at around 3pm which made the decision to stop in Rivier du Loup a good one.  Imagine our surprise when we pulled up at the camp ground to find it was located right in front of this beauty:

Noel Au Chateau

After two nights in Riviere du oup we headed for New Brunswick.  Did you know they are building new highways on both the Quebec and New Burnswick side of the Trans Canada?  We didn't. As a result didn't get as far as we anticipated which is fine because now we've been able to spend time in and discover Grand Falls, NB!

Birthday number two

Yesterday was my birthday, I spent most of the day with Clara shopping at the Wrentham outlets near Sharon, MA.  Not everyone would agree but for us it was a great day spent together.  We had one real goal, new gym shoes for Clara, beyond that we were just browsing.  Many hours later, Clara had some awesome, bright Pumas, an Aeoropostale Tshirt, a Tshirt for Leo and I bought myself a fantastic birthday dress and lovely little orange flats that match. 

We were late getting home which was a bit of a problem since Jon and Erin had a babysitter at the house so the adults could go to dinner and see the new Batman movie.  Thankfully it didn't really effect the evening plans too much and the kids all had a great time with their babysitter Sarah while we wined and dined saw Christian Bale talk funny as Batman.

Pretty great day all round. 

It is hard to maintain our blog when we are camping in state parks.  We haven't had much internet access since leaving Niagara Falls.  So, quick update:  We Left Niagara Falls and stopped in Buffalo, NY to visit the science museum there.  There was a special exhibit called Grossology (named after a series of books and tv shows) that we wanted to check out.  We learned all about the "gross" things our body does and soon after we'd finished learning about snot, farts, and poop Leo started showing signs of a fever :(  So, the virus that knocked Clara out for two days made its second appearance.  We loaded him up with tylenol and got in the car.  Our destination was Cayuga Lake State Park at the northern end of Cayuga Lake, one of New York's Finger Lakes.

Operation at Grossology

We set up camp with Leo lying in the shade holding on to the puke bucket aka the ice cream container that lives in the backseat.  We set up camp successfully and went out for food (Leo perked up for a late dinner). We came home, snuggled in to our sleeping bags and fell asleep only to wake up a few hours later with one of the most intense thunder storms I've experienced in a tent.  Thankfully the tent only leaked a little but despite that it was a pretty miserable night.

It turns out that first night was pretty much an omen for what the next several days would bring - rain and lots of it.  Luckily the weather was really warm in between rainstorms so it didn't matter that our tent and sleeping bags were permanently damp.  We planned lots of daytrips from and managed to see the Corning Museum of Glass, did some wine tasting, and tours at a couple of local wineries and checked out another Classic car show in Seneca Falls (totally by accident).  Despite the regular showers there was still time to hit the lake and play beach volleyball with some locals.

 In the grape vines

 Two little penguins at Penguin Bay Winery.

Grape picking machine

Glass sculpture at the Corning Museum of Glass

Kiddie pyrex at the Corning Museum of Glass

Distiller at Swedish Hills Winery

Swimming with the fish

Big News!  I learned how to swim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I first swam in the pool at the KOA in Niagara Falls.  Now I am practising in Taghkanic lake with the fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The fish are very skinny and long and we saw a whole school of them swimming around us, they are not scared of humans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magic

We are now at Tagkhonic Lake State campground.  We are camping here for 5 days and we have 2 days left.  It had rained a lot at our last campsite so we decided to buy some tarps for this site.  It seems like the tarps were magical because we've been here for three days and not a drop has fallen from the sky!  They are still useful; we use them for shade on our platform.

 

Tagkhonic Lake is beautiful. 

This morning we woke up and saw our cooler, it seems like a raccoon or squirrel had broken into it!  We are lucky we didn't loose much food because the cooler was almost empty.  The cooler is no use now as there is a big hole in the top.

Pig in the Middle

Pig in the Middle is a game for three people.  Two people stand apart with one person in the middle.  The person in the middle is the PIG.  Then you need to throw a stuffed tutu Angry Bird over the Pig.  If the Pig touches the Angry bird then the Pig turns into a regular person and the last person who touched the Angry bird is now the Pig.  It is kind of like Monkey in the Middle.  I played this game with some people that I met at our campsite in Cayuga Lake, NY.

Haunted House

I convinced my Papa to go to a haunted house in Niagara Falls. I was quite scared.  The haunted house was called: Dracula's haunted castle.  My Dad was laughing the whole time.  One time in the haunted house there was somebody who was copying me, for example I would say: "it is dark here" and then a whispery, scary, creepy voice would repeat my words.  My Papa insisted that he was not scared, but I bet that he peed in his pants that's how scared he was.