I think I like Kingston better when it's sunny!

The temperature is rising! I walked to work this morning at 8am and it was already 22 degrees outside! I must say, with the sun and its warmth, I am enjoying Kingston a lot more! We love the convenience of both being able to walk to work, walk to the grocery store and even walk downtown and to the waterfront, all within no more than about 20minutes! We keep wondering where we can live in the Vancouver area that offers us all this at a reasonable cost of living...Maybe we just need to enjoy it while we can!

Carl with his sweet ride which we painted and named "Blue Bird", filling up his little basket with groceries!

This past week was my last week at Starbucks! With Carl not in school, he doesn't have much to do in the evenings and with me working every night he was getting slightly bored and requested to have his wife back! I was hoping to just go down to 2 nights a week but that wasn't enough availability for them so I had to quit. I already miss it...And my free coffee :(

But in all our spare time we have been putting our bikes to good use! We went for a nice long ride along the waterfront on Saturday and enjoyed the view and the wildlife!

We still aren't sure what that last animal is. He was down by the water so at first we thought it was a beaver but then he came out and walked around and he didn't have a beaver tail?

On Sunday, after church we decided to walk around the stores downtown and then go to our favorite brunch spot at the Windmills Cafe. When our server brought our food out she asked if I would like anything else to drink (Carl already had a coffee). When I said no, she said "I think it would be in your best interest to order something". We looked at each other quizzically and she said "look at our menu and order something good!". Me, being the conceited girl I am thought "really, is some guy trying to buy me a drink while I'm out with my husband?". Meanwhile Carl was thinking this girl had some weird sales tactic where she was gonna end up charging us for an expensive drink we couldn't afford! The waitress came back and I ordered a mocha. When we finished our meal, the server took our plates away and said "our manager is paying for your meal today. She was behind you in the line up at the dollar store (our most frequented store) and she overheard you speaking well about her restaurant, so it's free today!" It was a nice surprise...And I felt relieved that I didn't have to explain to some guy that I couldn't accept the drink because I was married :)

Camping Season Begins!

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this weekend for along time! Not only because I get an extra day off work but also because we had our first camping trip booked! Several weeks ago I began making our summer plans and booking campsites at various Provincial Parks! This weekend we stayed fairly close to home and went to Charleston Provincial Park, about 45 minutes North East of Kingston and along the Canadian Shield. We plugged in the address on our GPS and we were off! When we started getting directed down back roads, that eventually turned into dirt roads in what felt like the middle of no where, we began to wonder if our trusted GPS was leading us astray!

But at last we arrived!

Upon entering the park we were greeted with this sign. I'm ok with turtles, but snakes?! Keep reading...

We registered and headed to our site. At the beginning of the road on which our campsite was on, there was a sign that read "Notice: Road closed. Do not use road unless your assigned campsite is numbers 178-190". Well, we were number 185 so off we went. As soon as we pulled into our campsite we realized why that notice was there - every other campsite except ours was closed due to flooding. I had booked our specific site because it was one of the only ones left and it was beside a creek which I thought might be nice...Except now this creek had turned into a massive swamp! Needless to say our site was still "campable" and we didn't mind being surrounded by water! We later found out though that over 50 people were called and told their campsite was flooded and that there was no room for them! We lucked out! In the picture below you can see the water levels and the road marked off.

And here you can see how unhappy a camper would be if this was the campsite they had reserved! Luckily it wasn't ours!

We quickly set up our tent and headed out to explore the area! We started hiking along a trail but then realized that flip flops probably weren't the best thing to be trekking through mud with! We opted on runners and a more exciting trail! The "Sandstone Island Trail", complete with a guide to help you determine what you were looking at was a Geologists dream! We learned all about Paleozic seas, sifted sands, cross bedding and conglomerate rocks. It was actually very cool as you can see here...

They figure the rock shelter above was formed millions of years ago. We also passed numerous caves that have been around for at least two thousand years. In the caves, artifacts such as pottery, bones, tools, a musket ball, gun flint and a metal buckle have been found. Carl and I figure that some of the first cave men probably lived in these caves. In fact, we swear we saw one! Either that or some crazy tourist???

After completing our hike, it was time for some beaching! The weather wasn't supposed to be great so we didn't bring out bathing suits but we should have! It was so hot and humid! Not having our bathing suits sure didn't stop Carl from taking his first swim of the season! After our yummy dinner of spaghetti we went for an evening stroll where saw numerous critters!

The sign wasn't lying when it said to watch out for turtles and snakes! I felt like I was back in the jungle of Bolivia with the amount of creatures we saw! We saw a giant snapper turtle in the water. It was huge! I didn't know we had wild turtles in Canada! Unfortunately I was to slow to grab the camera - not sure what that says about me, being slower than a turtle...We also got to see a beaver playing around. He even swam under the boardwalk we were walking on so we got to see his whole body swimming under the water. It was pretty neat! There were frogs and yes, snakes everywhere! After some smores it was time for bed!

The following morning after a breakfast of banana, chocolate chip pancakes and bacon we rented a canoe and went for a good 2.5 hour paddle!

It was beautiful! Every once in awhile you would see something moving in the water and as we would paddle closer we could see that it was a snake swimming along with just his head above the water. We saw one swimming towards an island so we decided to get a little closer to see how it would get itself out of the water and up on a rock. Since Carl was in the back of the canoe, he got me a little closer than I would have liked to be!

We then watched this Rat Snake wind its way up out of the water and up a rock. It was fascinating and disgusting all at the same time! Rat snakes are Canada's largest snake, getting up to 8 feet in size, however even to see a 6 foot one is rare. The one we saw was big enough for me! We kept paddling and wound our way through some weeds, hoping to see the snapper turtle again but instead ended up seeing an array of even more animals!

Little Turtles bathed in the sun

A crane eyed us suspiciously and then flew away

And then we got to see this Loon nesting! We saw another nest with an egg in it so we figure this guy was protecting his eggs or maybe just laying one. He was huge! If you look close enough at the picture (click on it) you can see his beady red eyes! So crazy! We kept our distance as we didn't want to get attacked - thank goodness for the zoom on camera's! After our little canoe adventure we went back to our campsite just in time to meet our friends Eric and Mary and their 3 kids who came to visit for the day!

We had lunch, made smores and then went to the beach where the boys did more canoeing!

Above: On their way out. Below: On their way back...I wonder who was in charge...?

Once our friends left, it was time for some hot dogs and then bed! This morning we packed up our stuff and attempted a 10km hike. 2km in, we gave up because the mosquitos were awful!!! Overall, we had an awesome weekend and are looking forward to the next one!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike!

So this past week I had to say good bye to my cook and house cleaner :( Yup, Carl started his job and no longer has a bunch of free time! But during his last week of freedom he got creative and made some yummy dishes!!!

Moo Shu Pork with Mandarin Pancakes

Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl

And the worlds most amazing banana chocolate muffins with brown sugar crumble on top!

Carl has officially finished his first week at work and likes it so far! He thinks it's going to be a good experience and is hoping to learn lot's!

During the past couple weeks Carl and I have been looking for some cheap bikes that we can use to ride around town and do some day trips with. We heard about a police bike auction and decided to check it out. Being our first auction, we were a little nervous and not so sure what to do. At first I was scared to even scratch my face in case the auctioneer thought I was bidding and before you knew it I'd be walking out with a $200 bike! Luckily that did not happen! We scoped out a few bikes and wrote down what our maximum bid would be. The first bike came up and our maximum bid was $30..."hummannnamma $10, we have $10, do we have $20, we have $20, hummananan, we have $30, we have $60...SOLD for $130!" We didn't get that one. Ahh well, I only really wanted it because it had cool saddle bags on it. The next bike coming up wasn't the best bike BUT I did really like the basket on it...So I said to Carl "if no one else bids, we'll pay $5 so I can have the basket and then we'll sell the bike!". The bidding started, hummannnamma, $5, we have $5, do we have $10, we have $10..."Man", I thought "we aren't gonna get anything here!" then the auctioneer points in my direction and yells "SOLD for $10!" As I turn around I see Carl holding up his bidding card! We had just made our first purchase! The last bike Carl really wanted was being wheeled up to the stage, our highest bid, $60. "Hummannamma hummannamma, do we have $40, we have $40 dollars, hummannnammma, we have $50, we have $60, we have $70..." Yeah that one sold for $90! We left the auction with our one purchase of $10 and as we wheeled it outside we realized it actually wasn't a bad bike! It runs well and fits Carl perfectly...And of it course it has a really cool basket!

Carl's Bike with the sweet basket that he says I can't have! Carl has now painted the bike white!

Our next stop was to pick up my bike! The day before we had actually looked at a bike at some guys house. There was a sign that read "$30, apartment 5". So we walked into this apartment building and knocked on door #5. As the door was opened, a strong smell of moth balls surged up my nose and a talkative elderly man in his robe appeared. He came outside (in his robe) and let me try the bike. It was a good fit and a good ride so we went back the next day and bought it! There we had it, 2 bikes for $40! We spent the rest of the day buying bike locks, and helmets, etc which ended up being more expensive than the bikes! We are all set to ride...And it is supposed to rain all week!

Me and my Sweet Ride!

Tonight we went out to Tweed to visit Aunt Joanie who just celebrated birthday number 92! Although she had been out dancing Friday and Saturday night, she still had enough energy to bake 2 pies and make dinner for 8 of us! That lady amazes me! We are now home and watching the hockey game!