I took pictures of today's New Thing because I realized that I haven't been doing that lately but the camera is telling me that the battery is exhausted. Well, aren't we all? Lazy battery. I don't see you fighting through the exhaustion to do things. You just sit there, refusing to work. The spare battery is in the camera case. I just discovered today that the camera case is in the basket underneath the stroller. The stroller is currently folded up and tucked away in the trunk of the car. Seeing as the battery has set the tone for laziness, I am going to follow suit and not go through the rigamarole of pulling the stroller out of the trunk, wrestling it open and trying to find the camera case. My apologies to you. If you want to see what where we were today looks like, perhaps I can introduce you to my good friend, Google. Or even Google's little brother, Google Images.
Today the LP and I went to Fifty Point Conservation Area. I always forget how much I love that place until I am there again. Fifty Point is a big, lovely, green space (80 hectares worth, according to the brochure), located right on Lake Ontario. There are full-service campsites, picnic areas, fishing ponds, hiking trails, beaches, a marina and a big wooden restaurant with a large patio that overlooks the marina. When Auntie K turned 30 we charted a sailboat out of there and spent a wonderful afternoon out on the water before retiring to the restaurant for an icy cold beverage. Although they do have campsites, we have never gone camping there because they do not allow fires and we feel that a campfire is part of the essential camping experience.
The LP and I made our way to a parking lot near the beach. Once they were strollered up, we headed out on a trail that I knew led to the marina. We passed the famous lighthouse on the way and stopped to look at the water. It was so quiet and peaceful. It felt like we were the only people in the world. Fifty Point isn't a very busy place on a Wednesday afternoon in mid September. As we walked down the trail, we admired yellow flowers (I think they were goldenrod weeds), purple flowers (no idea) and all the trees. LP1 kept saying "we are in a big forest, Mommy." I'm sure it felt that way to her.
The trail curved along the marina and as we walked, we admired the different boats in their slips. I like looking at the names people give their boats. My favourite one today was "Mad A'Boat You". Of course looking at all the boats made me wish we had one and then I started to think about what name we would give ours. "Boatload of Trouble" didn't seem original enough. I thought "Water Music" would be a nod to Daddy and the inevitable guitar that would come on the boat with us. "Watered Down" has probably been used before. I decided we should just give it a regular name, like Fred. Then we could say "we're going out with Fred this weekend. I think we'll sail across the lake to Toronto" and people would think Fred was just some friend of ours. Or that Fred owned the boat. And then they wouldn't always be asking us to take them out because hey, sometimes you just want to chill with your family and not be the cruise director of fun with everyone you've ever met. Or something like that.
As we made our way to the end of all the boats, we noticed a boat driving into some huge contraption. I am so bad at knowing the actual names of things or even giving them an adequate description. It was this huge, steely gray frame with what looked like giant slings on the side of it. After watching it for a moment, I figured out that this device was the Boat Taker-Outer. The boat drove into a space, somehow the slings were attached and it lifted the boat out of the water and onto a wooden frame. An efficient work crew bashed large spikes into the wooden frame and did a bunch of other things and then a tractor came to load the frame with the boat on it onto another frame before driving it to a storage yard. There were several boats already in the storage yard and someone was power-washing them. Everything was done quickly and everyone seemed to have a specific job. There was no standing around, figuring out what to do. The LP were fascinated with this and wanted to watch the boat make its journey to its winter resting place. LP1 would later tell Auntie K all about it on the phone.
When we got bored of watching the Boat Taking-Outing Process, we continued on our merry, meandering way. I considered stopping at the restaurant for a snack and a coffee but decided that since the LP were in quietly attentive moods, we should press on. We came across some ducks at the boat launch site and watched them for quite awhile. As per what seems to be our usual norm when watching animals, the ducks pooped everywhere. The LP were happy to watch the ducks just being ducks. LP2 really loves animals and was unleashing mighty baby giggles as the ducks stretched, walked around and cleaned their feathers. He was quite vocal in his disappointment when we finally left them.
We made our way along a trail near the water and stopped to admire the view. It was at this point that LP2 decided he had had enough. I had intended to take a different path back to the car but given that he was in Air Raid Siren Wailing Mode, I rapidly hoofed us back along the way we had come. Eventually I gave up and took him out of the stroller. He immediately quieted down and I could resume walking at a normal pace. As we were approaching the car, we saw a man throwing a tennis ball into the water for his dog. I pointed out the swimming dog to the LP. Once again, LP1 did not believe me. "Mommy, dogs don't swim" she laughed. I guess in the world of a toddler, only humans swim. We stopped and watched long enough for her to see that the dog was, in fact, swimming. Both of them were delighted with this. I think that after awhile, the dog owner was starting to get creeped out by our staring, so I decided we should continue to the car.
As I put LP1 into the car she gave me a hug and said "Mommy, that was a great time!" I loved hearing that. I wish I had thought to go during the height of the summer, when the weather was perfect. Today was a warm but overcast day. We went in the morning because they were calling for rain in the afternoon. I hope we get another nice day so that we can go back, maybe take a picnic lunch and make a full day of it. Maybe we'll even bring Daddy...or anyone else that wanted to join us. I'll make the sandwiches!
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