From Our Garden 31/08/2011

Ethan – Some of the stuff in our garden is ready for picking. We picked beans a long time ago, and we picked some of the carrots, and some of the kale, but not all of it.

Marlon – I hate kale, but I have to eat some.

Ethan – The squirrels ate lots of the apples, but the raspberries are too prickly for the squirrels, so we get to eat the raspberries.

Marlon – My morning glories got really big.

Ethan – One of my sunflowers got chopped down. Then something was biting the other one. Then the top got chopped off the other one. But lots of flowers grew where it got chopped off.

Carter Bay 23/08/2011

Dad – We always go down to Carter Bay when we are on Manitoulin Island. My Mom’s family used to own the entire beach, along with several thousand acres around it, but we now own only a couple of hundred acres between my grandmother and my great uncle. At least this still gives us access to the beach though, because there is nothing else like it in Ontario: white sand, huge dunes, meandering rivers, and almost always completely empty.

Ethan – We went swimming, but it’s really cold.

Marlon – One time the water was wavy. We jumped in the waves, and they knocked us down.

Ethan – And we built sandcastles, and we made sand cement.

Dad – But the best part of the beach is the scenery, so here is a whole set of pictures from Carter Bay, and I will leave you with a few choice shots as well.

Fishing 21/08/2011

Ethan – We got new fishing rods, and we went fishing at three docks at Manitoulin Island, at the Kagawong dock, at the Providence Bay dock, and what was the other one?

Dad – The Manitowaning dock.

Ethan – Yeah, but we only caught fish at the Kagawong dock.

Marlon – I caught two fish. I caught a perch and a rock bass.

Ethan – I caught three fish out of the water, but they fell back in (this is Dad’s fault really, because I always break the barbs, so the kids don’t hook each other).

Ethan – We saw some pike at Providence Bay dock. There were two little ones, and one big one. They were just sitting there. I think so they were resting.

Marlon – We jumped on the dock, and it scared them away.

Manitoulin Island Animals 20/08/2011

Ethan – We saw lots of animals on Manitoulin Island. We saw a water snake. It was a Northern Water Snake. It was black and reddish-brown.

Marlon – We saw six deer alive, and one deer dead. And we saw some big birds (Sandhill Cranes). They walked on the road when we were driving.

Ethan – One time a skunk was walking on the road too. It just kept walking along the road, and we didn’t want it to spray us, and we couldn’t get around it, so we just had to follow it slow, slow. Then it went into the bushes.

Marlon – And we had to go slow for the birds sometimes (for the Ruffed Grouse, which were everywhere on the bush roads).

Dad – What about the crayfish, and the seagulls, and the Canada Geese, and the Butterflies?

Ethan – Yeah, some animals there are lots and lots. There were so many crayfish and butterflies.

Marlon – And the pink bugs (Calligripha Leaf Beetles).

Ethan – Next time I want to see a moose and a bear.

Art Camp 19/08/2011

Ethan – I went to art Camp at Nana’s house.

Dad – She runs camps at Providence House in Providence Bay.

Ethan – We made pinatas and masks and dragons and stuff like that.

Ethan – We went to the beach, and we had pizza and icecream. We played lightsabers at lunch time.

Marlon’s Birthday 18/08/2011

Marlon – I had my birthday on Manitoulin Island. It was at Nana’s house.

Marlon – I had a horsie cake.

Marlon – I got tools and a toolbox for my birthday. It has a hammer and a measuring tape and a toolbelt. They’re real tools, not kid tools. Adults can use them if they want.

Dad – Can I use them?

Marlon – You have to ask first.

Dad – Okay.

Marlon – And we went to a place for riding horses (Kicking Mule Ranch).

Marlon – I got to ride on a pony. I said to the girl, “Hey, stop holding it. I’m four years old,” but she said, “No!”

Ethan – I rode the pony too, but next time we’re going to ride the big horses.

Marlon – They had some other animals for petting. I petted a ‘paca (an alpaca, in translation).

Ethan – I got to hold the rabbit. It scratched me, and then it ran in it’s house.

Dad – Here are some more pictures from our trip to Kicking Mule Ranch.

Manitoulin Island 16/08/2011

Dad – We have been on Manitoulin Island for a couple of weeks, which is why the blog has been so quiet, and which means that we have some catching up to do, so our next few posts will be all about our trip.

Ethan – We went at 1:00 at night, and we were sleeping in the car.

Marlon – I wasn’t sleeping. I was talking to Dad and Mom, and then I was sleeping by mistake. Then I woke up, and we were at Tim Horton’s. I had a muffin.

Ethan – Then we got to Manitoulin Island.

Marlon – We went to The Camp.

Ethan – Actually, first to Nana’s house then to the camp.

Ethan – We did two weeks. One week without Mom, and then Mom came for one week.

Marlon – And I had my birthday. We went horsie riding on my birthday.

Ethan – And we saw a watersnake. And we went to a light house. And we saw a dead deer.

Marlon – And we saw crayfish.

Ethan – Lots of Crayfish.

Marlon – After two weeks, we went home.

Ethan – We went across the water on the Chi-Cheemaun, and then we drove the rest of the way. This is a movie of the Chi-Cheemaun.

Dad – Here are some more pictures of our trip.