Home Sweet Home!

Yes, we've been home for a few days now, but after being away for a month, you can imagine we've been busy! The mail alone was mind-boggling and the pool had algae growing in the bottom of it. The weeds have taken over the garden, of course. We had tons of laundry to do and groceries to be got, etc., etc.!

However, there were a few days in between my last post and when we arrived home. We arrived in Massey last Wednesday afternoon thinking we would be immediately going up north camping with Jim and Jackie. They weren't ready to go, yet which gave us a chance to relax. We got to meet and fall in love with their new little puppy, Nikita - a terrier/husky mix. She is the cutest little thing!

 

Thursday morning, Jackie asked if we'd like to go up Friday morning, spend the day and come back down on Saturday for the family reunion. Sounded like a good idea, so we helped them pack up the new house trailer, the other equipment trailer, Bern and Jim got the boat and ATV sorted out.

Bern sure likes this Quad!

We pulled out of their yard about 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Their son, Craig, drove the ATV with the boat attached, Bern rode with Jim, pulling the house trailer and I rode with Jackie pulling the equipment trailer. After traveling almost an hour straight north, we arrived at a remote campsite beside a lovely river.

The guys got the camp set up and Jackie and I put together sandwiches for lunch. We had a nice afternoon and Jim and Bern even got the boat down the steep embankment to the river and went for a little ride - the water in the river is very low, so they didn't get too far before coming back.

One of the features of camping in the woods! The trailer does have a bathroom, but during the day we got to experience this charming convenience!

Jim took us for a ride through the woods in the ATV. Bern and I sat in the back on boat cushions with pillows at our backs. Other than the dust and broken branches all over us, we had a great time!

For supper, I made a salad and Jackie made steaks and potatoes, onions in butter (wrapped in foil) cooked on the BBQ - so, so good! Once the sun started to go down, the mosquitoes came out in full force, so we went in and tried to go to bed and read while furiously swatting ourselves silly. I don't know how all those nasty creatures got in while we weren't looking!! We finally got to sleep and woke up to the smell of camp coffee! Yummy! We had boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and then got packed up to go back to Massey.

A Whiskey Jack - the only wildlife I saw, although last year, Jackie saw a wolf on the road and other people have seen a cougar in the area!

We hated to say "good-bye" and if we weren't going to the Lachance family reunion, we would have stayed longer. Jim and Jackie are going to try to stay at the camp for as long as Jim's health will permit. We're all so happy that he's been able to get around more lately - he's had a tough time of it. He said this is the best he's felt in 17 years!

Well, we arrived at Wayne and Lise's a little earlier than we'd planned, but we were welcomed with open arms. We had a wonderful visit with their daughter, Shelley who is visiting with her two children, Sebastian (9) and Logan (2).

Saturday afternoon, before we went to the reunion, we stopped in to visit Lutchie. Her sister, Tunny's husband passed away the week before and she and their other sister Norita were there, too, so we had a nice visit. They also joined us later at the reunion.

Tunny, Norita and Wayne

Bern and Lutchie

We really had a good time at the reunion. We'd debated even going - we were tired and really wanted to go home - but, I'm glad we decided to stay. Here are some pictures!

Cousins



Bern with cousin, Pudgy (Jocelyn)

Shelley, Logan, Lise, Wayne and Bern

Wayne with cousin, Wayne

Our lovely hostest, Louise Lachance

Logan (little doll!) and his Mommy, Shelley

Of course, there was good music!

Well, we had a very good time - the food was delicious and the music was fun - they did a couple of sing-along songs until the young people took over. Then, we didn't know the words and barely recognized the music. But, that was okay - the musicians were wonderful.

We stayed on at Wayne and Lise's until Tuesday morning. Monday was the end of the long weekend, so we didn't want to be traveling that day! As it was, we found ourselves in backed-up traffic several times during our trip home - construction must go on! We stopped in our favourite restaurant in Parry Sound for lunch and finally got home around 7:00 p.m. We didn't have any groceries in the house so we went to Wendy's for burgers and fries. I was so happy to see my house that I took a picture of it!!

I had a wonderful trip out west, I absolutely loved spending two weeks with my mother, family and friends. We enjoyed our trip out and back, the driving was easy and we look forward to more car trips in our future - maybe Florida?