More fun at #1 Son's free campground

 We have done so many things while staying here, but there is no way I can write about them all.  I will add a few more pictures here and then in my next blog write about the ending of our visit and our start for home in the west.

As you can see summer is over and the camping places are almost empty.  It is not any cheaper but it is quieter.  We get the pools and playgrounds to ourselves. We took the younger grand-daughter for a few days by herself and all went well except for the rain and ferocious thunderstorm the last night that continued for 2 days even back at home.  She said she just ignored it, but it was not fun for us packing up in the mud to go back to her house. 

The last weekend of our visit, we took the girls to Rideau River/Canal campground which is about an hour from their house.  They made pretend houses in the woods and worked hard to clean up our camp and loved cooking on the fire.  The leaves were starting to turn lovely myriad shades of red, and it is down to 11 C. (52 F.) at night.  
Perhaps we will get a long, Indian summer.

One of my favorite evenings was when the girls had their baths and then stepped outside in their nightgowns to do a bit of bow and arrow shooting practice before their bedtime stories.  How lucky they are to live in the country.  Daddy belongs to a shooting club.  The oldest has taken bow shooting lessons also.

Can you figure out what this is?    

  

We were fortunate to be there for the first morning of school.  Here they are waiting for the bus to arrive at 8:13 AM.The youngest was so excited to get on the bus with her big sister for her first two and a half days a week of pre-school.

I spent that whole day cleaning out and reorganizing the dusty storage bins under the RV.  Those gravel roads in Saskatchewan had made a mess inside and outside.

Jacklyn won a few first ribbons and a second at the Russell Fall Fair.  Her First prize chocolate chip cookies were delicious and disappeared fast.  Her home-made Christmas card was ingenious too....candycanes on the front and a message to have a "SWEET" Christmas inside.  She also got a second for a picture made with a bingo dabber.  My family is so talented.  .......... it makes me chuckle.

We ran off for a few days on our own, and to give them all a break from having us in the yard and house.  We went to the harness racing track.  It is all very colourful and although we didn't bet on the races, we enjoyed making guesses on who would win.  We watched them during dinner and breakfast from an overhanging restaurant at the finish line.  Old Man did better at choosing winners as he concentrated on the jockey's record and not the horse's. It is a colourful sport.  I just picked the healthiest-looking ones.  I spent some time over the day in the adjoining casino playing the slots, but didn't win as much as in the States in Nevada last winter. In fact I lost my stake after winning enough (twice) to take $100 winnings back to the RV.  The next day I borrowed it all back to lose it.  It is silly fun that I file in our budget under entertainment. 
A day and a half though wears me out as there are some sad people in those places, and the clientele shows us a Wal-Mart video clip.  It also gets boring after a few hours.  This Rideau Club though did have lovely clean bathrooms and didn't feel grubby. 

On Sunday of the last week I went to church with the girls.  It was a lovely interlude in the countryside of Ontario. 

The readings and sermon gave me some spiritual food for thought.  The children made this banner with their footprints.

I am leaving out so much but will only do one more blog: about my visit to the museum.  I need to catch up again as we have left their house already, to head west again.