Darlington Mid June- Making flower crowns

This trip began on Thursday, after a mini history lesson at CFB Borden. I brought the children to the unveiling ceremony of the Vimy Ridge monument. Our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was there along with a few WW2 veterans and thousands of other military and non-military personal. We arrived early, so that we would have a good place to stand. We were able to see the horses bearing the carriage carrying the urn full of soil from the battle field, to it’s final resting place in the war memorial. The horses, the Prime Minister and the pipes and drums weren’t enough to keep four children entertained in the heat for the entire parade, but they lasted around 2 ½ hours before starting to melt down. After treating them to chocolate bars, for being so awesome, we came home and cleaned the entire house, as well as start packing for our trip and plant our root vegetable/ squash garden. I even had time to finish the curtains for the back room in the RV. Talk about a productive day. I’m usually satisfied with the fact that our children are fed, even if they make their own meals. What can I say though; we do have a new baby. While all of this was going on, Elijah was standing on parade, getting a lovely beret burn as well as borderline sunstroke. After the parade ended, he came home for a quick lunch, and then headed to the Nottawasaga Inn for the Borden Centennial ball, where he had the privilege of wearing a WW2 uniform for the evening, conversing with veterans from that era, among other tasks.

 Friday morning came and went quickly, aw we had homeschool group in the morning, followed by a trip to Costco before meeting up with Elijah at home, packing, eating lunch and leaving. Between the traffic and construction, our 1 ½ hour drive turned into 3 hours, but we arrived and began to set up camp.  Staying at the KOA the other week was a great intro into RVing, but nothing beats a provincial park. Our site is easily three times the size here, with a view of the lake and it costs 20$ less per night. On top of the awesome site, they provided daily children’s programs which are run by friendly and knowledgeable staff. This weekend was all about wild flowers. The kids learned about pollination and the importance of bees, They made cute sun catchers with dried wild flowers as a craft, which we hung in the RV. Afterwards, we went into the pioneer home that they keep as an information and activity center and learned about local history, endangered species, local plants and saw some turtles. We then collected some Dames rockets and butter cups to make into flower crowns. Apparently picking wildflowers is a big no no, so shhh.
This morning, we topped it all off with a nature walk, identifying common plants at the park such as dames rocket, butter cup, jewel weed, poison ivy, dog strangling vine and dozens more. All of this on top of your regular camping adventures, such as swimming and exploring the beach, making new friends and sitting around the campfire, made for a great long weekend. We will come back here again.