Enjoying our days at Nicholston Dam RV Park

We have settled into Nicholston Dam RV Park in Alliston where we will stay until June 1st. I will do an actual review later but I wanted to share with you some of the natural wonders we have been enjoying at this park.

There is a family of baby Canada Geese who we see almost every day. It's amazing in less then 2 weeks how much they have grown.

We woke up one morning in the middle of a butterfly garden (see more butterfly pictures HERE).

We've watched many fish jumping in the river...however I was not quick enough to get a good picture! We haven't tried our luck in fishing here yet.

We did go to the Orillia Perch Festival where Sierra became quite the little fishermen!

The girls have enjoyed singin' in the rain...take note of the tree in the background where Sierra is singin' in the rain...then see the next photo. When the rain stopped the river rose about 3 feet!

With all the rain, the buds are all branching out...

 And the birds are busy flying around and singing when the sun comes out.

Baltimore Oriel and their nest

A little Robins egg we found on the ground :(

a sweet little goldfinch right outside our window

The bees are buzy buzzing.

So far we are quite impressed at this park with all the space we have.

We got a spring early bird rate for booking the space before they opened. We've had most of the park to ourselves as there are only a couple other campers here right now but the sites are large for the most part, the river runs directly behind us and the large trees make it a beautiful setting to relax and enjoy.

Life is good!

So Many Thank yous...

Our last few days in BC were kind of hectic with packing and cleaning and saying our goodbyes to family and friends but we managed to get everything packed and in the moving truck... including the hot tub :) 

I must say that craning the hot tub over the neighbours house was a little nerve racking but the crane held up and we managed to get it into the moving truck.

We were very thankful that we were able to find a truck that the hot tub would fit in and almost had to leave it in BC. We hired a moving company to move it for us but on the day he was to show up to pick it up he said his truck was full and couldn't move it. Needless to say we were scrambling to find alternate arrangements. 

Luckily we found Universal Truck Rentals and we were able to cancel the UHaul (they had no trucks with door openings wide enough to fit it in). They had a Diesel truck that happened to have an opening just big enough to slide in the hot tub and gave us a discounted truck that was bigger so he could get it back East (apparently more people move to BC from Ontario then head back to Ontario from BC). 

We expected to have lots of room left over in the truck but it's amazing just how much stuff we still brought even though we sold off twice as much as we are bringing in the last few months! It's incredible how much stuff accumulates and how fast. We thinned out sooo much but still managed to fill this huge truck and the trailer we towed behind it!

Finally everything was packed up, the house was all cleaned (A HUGE thank you to Ania for spending all day cleaning all the bathrooms and the kitchen...We owe you!And thanks to my mom for taking Sierra for the night so we could finish packing) Then it was time to load ourselves in the truck and say goodbye to our home.

Luckily our dear friend Jay flew out to help us drive across to Ontario. Believe it or not I have never pulled the trailer...I'm scared of having to back up (yes Ian did drive all 30,000km's we drove on our trip last summer!). The plan...was for us to rush so Jay could be back for work in 5 days! So we quickly threw the last few items into the truck and headed out.

I am extremely thankful Jay did come because the next morning Ian woke up and was very sick and we were only parked at a roadside stop just past Kelowna.

The girls had been sick before leaving and were still sickish too so our drive was anything but fun and I had to drive for the first time as we didn't have time to sit around.

 And would you believe it...two days later I was sicker then I have ever been in my life! I managed to drive from Kelowna to Winnipeg before getting sick and forcing Ian to drive again. He wasn't 100% but he made it to Sioux Saint Marie.

Jay had to leave us in Sioux Saint Marie and fly home to work and we had to sit in a truck stop while I recuperated. If Jay hadn't flown out to help then we probably would have been in Calgary still! After 2 nights  we had to move again because we needed to unload the truck and get it back. We loaded the girls into the moving truck with Ian so I could have complete silence to concentrate on driving. Whewww that was tricky but we arrived safe and sound! A HUGE thank you to Mark and Jeff for helping to unload the truck and to Ed, Keith, Matt and Alex for helping to unload the hot tub! (See the trend here of why this post was titled so many Thank yous... We have called on so many friends to help us with this move and we are very grateful for all their help)

Our next little hicup happened almost immediately. We couldn't park the trailer where we originally hoped so we scrambled to find an RV park that was open. Apparently no parks in Ontario open until May. Luckily the storage facility where our belongings are in storage had one space left we could rent until a local park opened. It was nothing more then a parking space along their driveway but it was a blessing to have as we waited for the camping season to open.

We spent Easter here...

Luckily the Easter Bunny found us and he brought wonderful nature bags and real binoculars for the girls. He also brought geode eggs the girls had fun cracking open.

Even though we were parked on the side of the road we were thankful for the hill beside us.

Sierra studies her snail she found

Remember curling dandelion stems as a child? They picked the stems
 too short but we managed to get a few curls.

The girls cousin Charlie came for a sleep over and had a great time on that little hill.

Sierra found an egg on a branch of a fir tree. It must have
been pushed out of the nest after it didn't hatch.

 The girls got out the bird book and tried to figure out what type of bird it was...we think it was a Starling's egg.

They also discovered how fragile eggs can be...

Charlie searching for clues

Charlie and Sierra doing some investigative work
under the tree where the egg was found.

 Then they caught a butterfly...

And if that wasn't fun enough...they also spotted a wild turkey on that hill...

So next time you see a little hill don't take it for granted. Be thankful for all it has to offer if you take the time to look :) It provided us with lots of fun rolling down it and also housed many dandelions and creatures to entertain the girls when we weren't out exploring Barrie and it's great parks or swimming at the fabulous pool here.

Many thanks to all of you who helped in so many ways with our move...we are truly grateful and appreciate everything you have done. Now we head off to our RV park to see what adventure lays waiting to be found.

Our last week in Ontario

After leaving Wasaga Beach we headed to Barrie to visit with Mark and Corry again. We spent a couple days there and were happy to have Gary, Brooke and Jake come by for a visit again too. My camera seemed to be in hiding as the only pictures I took on this visit was of Aayla playing with the chalk outside. 

Not sure if she got more chalk on the ground or on her!

We did just manage to fit the trailer in their driveway...

And even though I didn't get a picture of it we all had a great afternoon which turned into an evening of enjoying the "Barrie Garage" phenomenon which expanded to sitting under the awning all evening, enjoying the conversation, hiding from raindrops and having a great visit!

From here we headed into Pickering to visit with Nana and Peter. Nana is the girls Great Nana. Our trailer was too long to even park on their street so we meet Diana and Nana at the mall and got some back to school shopping done for Sierra and both girls got a real treat! They were let loose in a toystore and were told to pick what ever they wanted! This of course took forever to do as there was just tooOOOoooo much stuff to choose from!

In the end Aayla picked a doll stroller (as every time we visited Mark and Corry it is the only toy she played with basically 24/7 while there) and Sierra chose some little pop up animals. I am not even sure what they are called as she has never mentioned them before but she was so excited to get them.

Aayla with her new stroller...take note of the ET in it...Diana brought it on the visit
 to give to the girls...it was Ian's when he was a baby :)

Thanks again Nana...the girls had such a fun time making their choices :)

We then went out for lunch at East Side Marios...but unfortunately our waiter wasn't very good with the camera and it isn't even close to being in focus.

Sierra learning to roll her tounge

Aayla trying the pepper in my salad

Cuddles with Great Nana

Then we took Nana out to show her our trailer

And decided to drive over to Nana's to say hi to Peter quickly before taking off. We parked on the street and ended up taking up about 4 driveways :( We went in quickly and luckily no one needed to get out in too much of a hurry.

Nana is a big Snow White fan so the girls really enjoyed looking at all her figurines.

Nana gave them one of her collector dolls.

But mine and Ian's favourite thing to do at Nana's is look at the family picture wall. When we come in April for Jay's wedding we really want to sit down and work on the family tree as we didn't get much time in Pickering on this trip.

After a short but sweet visit it was time to say goodbye.

Then we were off to Heather and Ed's for a couple of days. Again...I seemed to forget to pick up the camera!!! I did manage to get a few of Aayla and Nella having stroller races.

 And of course a few wild flowers

I snuck this one of Heather from their
back field of Nella enjoying a swing :)

Nice shoes Aayla

The guys hiding in the shade...playing with their phones...
I can't complain I was off having a snooze.

We had another great visit with you all and look forward to seeing you again soon...hint hint... like at New Years at our place :)

Sadly our time had to come to an end and we had to pack up and head out. Today marks the beginning of our journey home. We wanted a short day for our first day back on the road, and left late afternoon with the plan of getting to Sarnia Walmart for the night tonight so we can wake early, cross the border and be on our way home.

The Sarnia Walmart where we are parked for the night

We plan to get home as quick as we can with only a couple planned stops as our truck insurance runs out on Aug 28th so we need to get back to BC to pick up our insurance sticker. As well Ian has to fly back here to TO on the 28th to take care of the new rental properties and get the tenants situated with Mark.

So for the next couple of days we will be driving, driving and more driving until we get to Mt Rushmore where we will have a quick scenic tour and be on the road again!

Warm welcome wishes tonight going out to Rick and Paulette of Rick & Paulette's RV Travels. Rick is a wealth of computer tips and tricks and Paulette just might have a yummy recipe ready and waiting for you :) Welcome aboard!