Bruder Campground, July 25-27 2014

The Clancy's sure know how to have a good Mexican Fiesta!!!

This was our annual Clancy Reunion weekend and there were 47 of us in attendance over the course of the weekend.  The Mexican theme was a hit and the kids thoroughly enjoyed destroying two pinatas and scrambling for the goodies that dropped from them. We arrived early Friday afternoon and were able to get set up before cousin John arrived with his 5th wheel, and yes we left him lots of room to maneuver his toy hauler into place. By Friday evening there were a number of us present and the party began. Just after dinner we had a surprise guest show up. It was Hombre Jarvis and he had his seniora on his arm. We had such a laugh over this that it was the highlight of the day.....LOL  Saturday the guests kept arriving and the fun was escalating as time went on. There was more food than you could imagine and the Mexican dishes added to the fiesta. There were not to many beans so we could enjoy everyone's company without having to be at a distance (if you get what I mean). We had new members of the Clancy Clan family join us this year. Tom and Cecile, their two son's and wives as well as the 4 grandkids. We had just discovered a while ago that he is related to us through brothers that were our grandfather and great grandfather so we are 2nd cousins once removed. We also had the youngest member of the clan join the party for a few hours. Emma Bailey Matheson is 4 months old and is the cutest girl in the world if I do say so myself (I'm the grandma). There were games, pinatas, buggy rides, food and more food and lots of laughs shared and after dark we enjoyed  fireworks and time around the campfire. By Sunday the numbers were decreasing but the fun continued. We enjoyed a late breakfast together and those that had long drives ahead of them packed up for there journey home. We were thrilled when cousin Michael arrived from Ottawa before they had left as we had not visited with him for a while. Liz was most grateful to see him as she would now loose the title of "eldest cousin" at the reunion....lol  Michael spent a few hours with us before he had to meet up with his son Elliot. We hung out until later in the evening and enjoyed dinner but not before the skies opened up and we had torrential rains. Since it was not letting up we decided to leave the motor home out there and we went back on Monday morning to bring it home. We just wanted to go back for another visit.....lol
A great weekend was had by all and I must thank our gracious hosts, Liz and Fred for there amazing hospitality.
Looking forward to next years gathering and celebrating half of our heritage with an Irish theme.
We can hope that our numbers keep increasing and that we get to enjoy more of the family next year. You really don't know what fun you are missing out on.

We must thank Geoff for the fancy F on our banner 

Hombre cousin Cindy and Liz enjoying a laugh

Moustaches were appearing all over the place

Clancy(Joe) looked great with his moustache and new hat

Liz had some wonderful holly hocks

Sophie with her wee sombrero

Janet and Diane enjoying time together

I enjoyed some time with the cows

Our host Fred looked amazing in his Mexican attire

The newlyweds, Pat and Geoff in the fiesta wear

Song Sparrow singing on the fence post

A hawk flying over our gathering

Aurora & Sophie with the reins out for a buggy ride

Aurora is so happy to have the reins as they go down the road

Tom, our found cousin. Was nice to have your family with us

Some of Tom's family enjoying the fiesta

The kids pulling the strings on the first pinata

This one required a blindfold and stick

Aurora found a good use for the used pinata

Grand Aunt Janet with Emma, the youngest of the clan

Saturday evening fireworks

Mennonites out on there Sunday visits

Cindy & Sophie getting some horsey time with a neighbour

The pumpkins are flowering in Fred's garden

Liz, our hostess with her wine and cane.

She hurt her ankle and the wine was helping....lol

Cousin Michael's arrival

A warm greeting form Cindy and Janet

My first photo this year of a monarch in the wheat field

Rondeau, July 18-20 2014

Into everyone's life a little rain must fall. It has been a while since we've had rain interfere with our weekend travels. We enjoyed a wonderful Friday exploring the park and relaxing by the campfire. During the night the rain started and it rained until just after lunch on Saturday. Needless to say we had a lazy morning at our "cottage".  We were able to get out in the afternoon and enjoy some of the amazing sights the park has to offer. Since the mosquito's were so bad in the forest we were not able to enjoy any of the trails. We made a few trips to the canal area to check on herons but there were none to be found. Must have been hiding from me on the weekend. I was able to see one as we left to go home but we couldn't stop to enjoy it. In the afternoon on Saturday we traveled to the far end of the park and came across a young bunny out enjoying some greens. There were cotton tail bunnies all over the park. At one point we saw six of them together. It looked like mom and her 5 young ones. I was able to enjoy the sunset on Saturday and it was an amazing red one. We spent the evening enjoying the flames of the fire and just as we were falling off to sleep the skies opened up again and it poured. I have to say I enjoy listening to the rain during the night. Sunday was sunny, warm and humid. We spent the afternoon at the beach enjoying the wonderful day.

Lots of Black-eyed Susan's in the park

A young male Downy Woodpecker is just getting his red feathers

Damselfly on a twig

Close up of it on a dried leaf

Flowers at the Visitors Center that attract butterflies

This is a very large patch of Chickens of the Woods 

fungi back in a swampy area along the road

The first young bunny we saw enjoying some greens

I love the colour of these wild flowers

Eastern Kingbird perched on a tall weed

Butterfly Flowers with rain drops

Mommy barn swallow with her young one

One of the five little ones brave enough to have its photo taken

I found Flopsy the bunny. 

It had just shook its head to get the bugs off when I took it.

Saturday sunset over the marsh

Mrs Rose-breasted Grosbeak (mom)

This is her young one that she and dad were feeding

The young one was doing some preening

Time for a wing stretch after the preening

 Ox Eye Flower with a wee bug

Point Farms July 11-13 2014

We had a wonderful but also disappointing weekend in the Goderich area. We enjoyed some relaxing time at the beach and we were able to witness a deer coming for a drink at my favourite pond in the area. Unfortunately I was not able to get a photo to share with all of you. After arriving at camp we set things up and headed into Goderich to place our Saturday morning pick up order at the bakery. Picked up a few things in town and made a stop for wood before spending a relaxing evening at the park. Saturday we planned to meet Beth, Rick, Mary, Kathy and Nikola in Bayfield for the Tall Ships that were there for the weekend. In the morning we headed to Pine River Cheese to get some of there yummy cheese before picking up our donuts at the bakery. After a breakfast of donuts.....lol  we had a sandwich and headed to Bayfield to see the tall ships. It was rather disappointing to find out that there were only two ships and they were smaller two mast boats. With all the advertising we had seen we were expecting much more. We did however enjoy the few hours we spent with Beth and the rest of the gang. We enjoyed time on the pier and walked up to the main street and enjoyed an ice cream treat before heading our separate ways. We spent most of the evening enjoying a campfire before the rain headed in about 11p.m.  It rained off and on most of the night but the sun was shining when we got up so we enjoyed a great afternoon at the beach. I spent some time doing artwork in the sand and taking a few pictures of it to share. Another great weekend spent in the Goderich area.

Belted Kingfisher in the evening sun

Blue Tailed Dragonfly looking for food

 

Young Wood Ducks at the pond

Friday evening "super moon"

Tall ships in Bayfield

One of the sails was left out for us to see

Some of the boats in the lake

were bigger than the tall ships

Blue Heron flying at the pond

Flower growing by the pond

A Red Tailed Hawk flying by

Was surprised to find this growing from a log on the beach 

The deer have been down to the water for a drink

Butterfly milkweed in bloom by the beach

What a great sight to watch and walk in on Sunday

I decided to write Emma's name in the sand

A wave came along and started to wash it away  :(

So, I wrote it out with pebbles that will last longer