Touristing in Kingston

The second half of our holidays, we camped at Rideau Acres outside of Kingston.  I had originally planned on taking advantage of all the park had to offer, but we got so busy doing other things that we were barely there.  

The first night that we got there we did a Ghost Trolley tour through the city.  I enjoyed this, Ryan had his reservations.  We made stops at John A. MacDonald's grave.  Parker may of seen a ghost, but we will never really know!  The driver said that sometimes kids wave at a man and a dog at the gate.  So my mom told Parker to tell her if he saw a man and a dog.  A few minutes later as we were driving through the gate he pointed and said man and doggie!  Power of suggestion?  Maybe.  But he didn't really know that it was at the gate that he was supposed to see them, so I don't know!

The scariest stop was at the Rockwood Asylum.  It's an old mental institution that looks terrifying.  Basically anybody could be sent there for things that really didn't make them insane and they would do testing on them.  So they think that it is very haunted.  Whether it was all just stories, I don't know.

There were other ghost stories along the way as well.

The next day we did the Kingston Penitentiary tour.  This was definitely the highlight, but you will have to wait because it's getting it's own post!

After that we stopped at the Rideau Canal to watch the boats for a bit.  Ryan and Parker loved it.  My anxiety about Parker being so close to the canal was through the roof.  I tried to contain it but things like that make me really nervous!

The third day we went to Murney Tower, which are old small little forts that they built a few of around Kingston.  My kind of museum, short and sweet.

Then we did the Penitentiary museum.  We brought the stroller because we assumed that it would be accessible, and it wasn't.  So I didn't spend as long in there as I could of since Ryan had to wait outside.  It was neat though.  Not too big so you could do it fairly quickly.

Parker liked the looks of this moose at first, but once he got close to it he was terrified!

Later that evening we took the Wolfe Island ferry to Wolfe Island for dinner.  There isn't much on Wolfe Island and we were one car away from having to wait an extra hour for the ferry.  Dinner was delicious, but Parker was very unhappy at the restaurant, which is slightly stressful.  Once he got some food in his belly he was better.  But the ferry was fun for Parker, (and us).  It was very windy....

On our last day we did a Boldt Castle cruise with Rockport Cruises.  It was a lot of fun!  It was perfect time wise for the kids.  Half an hour on the boat, 2 hours at the stop and then another hour on the boat.  It broke everything up nicely.

We stopped for a picnic lunch while at Boldt Castle.  We actually probably could of spent another hour on the island as there were things that we didn't see.

The boys had a good time camping.  I love that we have the trailer and can make these summer memories.  

Camping in the County

Last week we were away on our summer vacation!  It was a packed week of camping and we did so many activities.  It was slightly stressful at times.  Cooper was crankier than usual.  Parker had his good days and bad days.  Cooper had some sleepless nights.  But we made it through and made a lot of fun memories.  

I'm going to split this into two (or three) posts so hopefully it isn't too much picture overload!

We started the week at a little campground called Smugglers Cove in Prince Edward County.  We were there for 2 nights and it was a nice little park.  The sunset was beautiful!

While we were there, we explored the county a little bit.  We went to a few wineries and breweries, as well as Lake on the Mountain.  We even found a little petting zoo at one of the wineries, which was perfect for Parker!

We visited Lake on the Mountain.  It just looks like a regular lake in this picture, but it's at the top of a mountain and for a long time they weren't really sure where the water was coming from.  

 The day that we left that campground we stopped in at Long Dog Winery.  It was a cute little winery.  They mostly focused on red wines and chardonnay, which aren't my favourite.  But I did buy a nice sparkling Rose.

Next stop was Sandbanks Provincial Park.  This park is very well known amongst campers and very hard to get into.  We've been trying for years!  Luckily this was the year and we actually got 2 sites right across the road from each other.  

Unfortunately the bugs in both of these parks were terrible.  Poor Parker was eaten alive and completely covered in bites.  It wasn't even enjoyable to be outside half the time, which was really too bad.

 The first day that we tried to go to the beach we packed everything up (which with two kids takes a long time), and headed out around 12:30.  Well we get to the beach road and he tells us that parking is full and we should come back in a couple hours.  So we tried to go to the Dune's beach.  It was also full, but I think by being friendly they let us in.  

The beach isn't quite as nice, but the big dunes are there.  And the water is really calm so Parker had a great time playing.  It was so hot that day and we had no shade.  Cooper was miserable.  And honestly so was I. An unhappy baby in the heat is not a lot of fun.

This picture is of the trail.  They have had so much rain that it was completely flooded!  

The next day we got up and ready for the beach right away and went first thing in the morning.  Seems like an odd time to go to the beach, but we were able to get the perfect spot with some sun and some shade and it was much nicer.  I found a shady spot for Coop and he plopped down and loved playing with the sand!

 The day we left we had a relaxing drive to our next destination, Kingston.  We stopped in at Parson's Brewery in Picton for lunch.  We had some delicious tacos, Ryan had some beer.  And Parker, in typical Parker fashion, ate nothing.

So there is the first half of our trip.  Next stop, Kingston!

Cousins Camping Weekend

You can't choose your family, but you can choose how much time you spend with them.  And we sure spend a lot of time with ours.

What started as just a camping weekend that we invited a few extra people to, turned into a full out cousins camping weekend.  6 out of 10 of us were there with our families.  And it was awesome.  And it might have to become an annual thing.  

We stayed at the Rockwood Conservation area, which is close to home.  There is so much to do there that keeps everyone entertained, or you can just hang out on your site too.  Plus, camping with family is awesome because I get free babysitting for my kids.

We were only told once to cut it out with the loud and inappropriate campfire talk...oops! 

Family Reunions and Naked Showers

We had a family reunion at Inverhuron Provincial Park a couple weekends ago.  We had a group site that was right on the water, and it was so much fun.  I love camping with family because there's always something to do, people to talk to, people to entertain and hold my kids and yet you have your own space.

The kids loved it too.  Parker loves to play with his cousins and had a great time at the beach.  Then he needed an outdoor naked shower to get all the sand off him.

Cooper just loves everything, so the kid is easy to please.