Family Reunion

Good morning everyone,

This year again we hosted our annual family reunion. We started the day with a brunch at 11:00. Duane and Olivier joined mom and dad and our gang for a wonderful brunch. I cooked some bacon and sausages on a hot plate on the BBQ.

A good part of the afternoon was overcast. We even had a little bit of rain, so little we could count the drops. Rhéal and Vic joined us with their families in the afternoon. We spent the afternoon chatting and joking around.

We cooked some hamburgers on the BBQ and had some tasty salads and Mel's baked beans for supper. The day was topped off with a concert by Jacynthe, Jasmine, Clairina, Céline and Adrien. It was great to see Adrien dance and lip sing to LMFAO's "I'm sexy and I know it". Great concert kids.

Louise and I are really proud that we were able to get my farmer brothers to relax for an afternoon. We’re now looking forward to the Mousseau family reunion in Timmins in August.

Marten River Provincial Park

Hello everyone,

Here is our second post in our summer blog. Last week, Alex, Adrien, Ryan (Alex's friend) and I went camping for 4 days at Marten River provincial park. We left on Sunday and came back on Thursday. Unfortunately it was raining when we left on Sunday and part of Monday but we still made the best of it.

We spent most of Monday playing board games. Adrien and I spent a lot of time playing Monopoly. The is only one rule when you play a game with Adrien, he has to win, no questions asked!!!

On Tuesday, Olivier came over with Isabelle and Zachary and had breakfast with Adrien and I.  We drove up HWY 11 to Pine Rock restaurant. All I can say that the big breakfast at Pine Rock was BIG. The boys and I ended up going back to Pine Rock on Thursday before heading back home.

In the afternoon, Louise came with the girls and mom and dad. We had supper together. Louise, mom and the kids went for a swim at the beach. The water in Marten river was quite warm.

On Wednesday we went for a nature walk in the old growth forest. We took the long route which was 4.2 km in length. Adrien was awesome as he walked the whole way. We had lunch at the halfway mark.  There are some really big white pines in that forest. After that Alex and Ryan rented a canoe and went paddling for a while. We didn't have a life jacket for Adrien so he didn't get to go for a ride in the canoe.

The best sites at Marten River provincial park are 151, 152, 155 (the site we had), 157 and 135A. Our site was non-electrical.  We borrowed my dad's generator but did not use it. The battery lasted for the four days. We ran out of water on the third day. I need to find a way to add water to our storage tank without using a hose.


Unfortunately there was a fire ban the whole time we where at the park. So we did not make any campfires.  This week Louise is out camping at Champlain Provincial Park in Mattawa with the girls.

Santa's Village

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our first post. This past week, Louise, Adrien, Julianne and I went to Santa's Village for what started out as two nights of camping but ended up as three nights at Wispering Pines campground. It was our first time in two years camping and things started a little rough. On Monday I figured out that I had a leak in my hot water pipe. Fortunately all I needed to do was cut an inch off the end of the pipe and put it back in the coupling. I guess the pipe was a little bit loose. Unfortunately I had forgotten my pump on and there was a bit of water in the camper. I was able to remember pretty quickly how every thing worked, hot water and all and we were good to go on Tuesday morning.

We got to Bracebridge late on Tuesday afternoon. Once at the campsite we realized that our power cable wasn't long enough to reach the receptacle so I had to drive back to Bracebridge to buy an extension. So I bought a 100' contract grade one. So no more power issues this summer!!!

We spent the day on Wednesday at Santa's Village. Adrien really enjoyed his day spending time on a roller coaster, train and peddling on a little bike. We also played a couple of rounds of mini-putt. We went on the boat up the river and went on a paddle boat too. All in all we had an awesome day.

At first we wanted to come back on Thursday but decided to stay an extra night.  On Thursday we went to Gravenhurst for a two hour boat ride on the Segwun steamship. It was an awesome afternoon on the Muskoka river. All I can say is that there are some beautiful cottages on that lake.

The best campsites at Whispering Pines are 70, 72 and 108.

We were packed up and ready to come back home on Friday by 11:00 AM. The trip back went without a hitch as Julianne was an awesome passenger. Now getting ready to go camping in Marten River with the boys next week. Should be fun.

I'll add more pictures to my Picasa account as soon as I have a chance. Right now half of my pictures are on a digital camera for which I have no USB cable for.  Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.