Where we roam

Hello, It's been a while since I posted. We've had a pretty busy time lately and that's not me trying to make excuses, but some things have gotten away from me. So, on that note, I'm taking the time to write a short entry on an outing Ron, Zoé and I did almost a month ago. Ron had an appointment in Keswick on a Saturday and instead of missing out on family time, we decided to all drive up and hike somewhere nearby.  We came across the Holland Landing Conservation Area online and decided to give it a try.  We parked at Anchor Park and tried to find entry to one of the trails that apparently leads into the conservation area itself. We took a wrong turn and ended up near a road (Walnut Avenue) and since we had pulled the map up on Ron's phone, we figure it should be easy enough to go up a certain part and we would end up back on a trail. Well, we kind of did. For a while. It was nice and full of hills, so we put Zoé on my back and trekked on, hoping the trai...

Hello, I hope I am finding you well and the trails have been kind. September 4 was labour day and we wanted to get out for a nice hike before the back to school (SK for our boy) and new daycare (for our daughter) day.  This decision was made pretty late in the day as Brock wasn't home until a bit past noon and Zoé needed to get her ever shorter nap in. We wanted to head over to the Smokey Hollow Waterfall, but there is only a tiny parking lot (which is a pain to get in and out of) and it was full with a ton of people trying to get in. So we kept driving on Mountain Brow Road and arrived at a Bruce Trail access point off of King Road. We parked on the side of the road, grabbed our water and off we went, heading West but not sure how far we would go. Now Ron and I have downloaded a free app (in-app purchases) called ViewRanger . It is a GPS guide and here is what they say on their site:  ViewRanger is your digital guide to the outdoors, with hundreds of thousands of down...

Hello, I hope you are doing well. I've waiting too long to write out these posts so I feel like I'm missing a few pieces, but oh well. It is what it is. The last post ended with a very cold night and morning. But we survived and had plenty of food and layers to keep us warm.  We then got ready to go for another hike! We headed out for the High Pines Trail, a 1.7 km trail going through forest and wetlands. They classify it as moderate on their site. Again, we let Zoé walk for the first part, but after a while she kept falling and then we fell far behind the rest of the group. So, up on my back she went and we were able to observe all the lovely trees and rocks that were around us. We saw lots of acorns and plants. The trail itself wasn't too bad with some semi-hard climbs here and there.  After that, we had lunch and then even though it was chilly in the shade, we decided to go see the beach area, bringing our swim gear just in case it was warmer in the bright s...

Hello, This next trip will be broken down into two posts so that I can include more details and not make each post too long.  We went on a three night camping trip with my family at Bon Echo Provincial Park . In total we were 15 people (6 kids ranging from 2 to 7 years old and 9 adults) and we shared three sites (two for tents and one was a yurt ). We ended up putting up two tents on one site and moving the picnic table over to the middle site where we had one tent and two big shelters to cover the picnic tables.  We only built a fire at the middle camp ground and we kept the double burner stove there for cooking and cleaning dishes. We did have a BBQ at the yurt, so we made good use of it for bacon, sausages, burgers and grilled veggies.  We all arrived around 4:45 pm on the Wednesday and even though they weren't calling for it, it was lightly raining! So we all quickly set up our tents and shelters before the ground was too wet, and luckily the light rain did not...

Hello, My name is Rachel and I welcome you to my blog. It's 2017 and I'm a busy (who isn't) mother of two wonderful, crazy, active, etc. children. There's my (step)son, Brock, who loves to ask "why" and talk non-stop, typical 4-year old stuff. And there's my daughter, Zoé, who is super curious and daring, also typical 2-year old stuff. I also work full-time and once we pass September I will finally be married to my wonderful fiancé, Ron.  Although this blog will be about myself and my family, it will be mainly centered around our outings and our explorations of our wonderful Earth. By this I mean that we are a family that likes to go out and see what the wonderful conservation areas (and other natural areas) have to offer us (water, sun, plants, wildlife, etc.). Ron and I both strongly feel the need to show to our children how wonderful this planet can be and that we must do our best to conserve it and to get along with it. We want them to learn abou...

Hello, For my first official post, I wanted to share our first camping trip together.  Before I get into that though, I would like to say that when I was growing up, my parents took my sisters (I have three older sisters) and I on many, many camping trips and other outings. I do not have a good memory, but I do remember having a blast on these trips. They are a big part of my childhood. I know that Ron also went to cottages and camping when he was growing up. Another reason why we both wanted to get back into it.  We actually have never gone camping together! Shocking, I know. We've done many nature walks, but never overnight stays anywhere. So, we bought a tent and a few other key missing things and booked a very last minute, one night camping site at a conservation area not too far away from us, near Alliston, Ontario .  Now, our kids are normal kids. They love each other and tend to get along or know to stay away from each other. Of course that Saturday morning...

Hello, For this post, I will take you along our hour and a half long hike at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area , in Milton, Ontario . A couple weekends ago, Ron, Zoé and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a good hike. We usually use a stroller with Zoé, but since we (sadly) didn't have Brock, which let's be honest, we probably wouldn't have been able to do the trail we did with him, we decided that we should wear Zoé. Unfortunately we didn't have a carrier that works for her weight but happily my sister who lives nearby still had the ergo baby carrier she used for both her kids! It's great to have family and hand-me downs. Seriously! So, fill up a few water bottles, grab a few cliff bars and granola bars to have as snacks on the trail, throw on our hiking shoes and off we go! To get into Rattlesnake Point, it costs $6.75 per adult. Zoé being 2, was free.  Now we ended up being on the trail for about an hour and a half, and...