Day 358 July 29 2015 Kincardine Ontario

Day 358 July 29 2015 Kincardine Ontario

The sabbatical is officially over as we are starting to do things to get our lives back to normal.  We put the insurance back on all our cars.  The phone and internet are reconnected and the water is back on.  It was an absolutely fantastic year and I would do it over in a second.   There was nothing that I regret seeing or doing.  I just wish I had more time off (more money would also not hurt) so I could visit more places.  We had to cut part of Bolivia from our itinerary as well as Turkey due to time constraints.   I never made it to Machu Pichu as I returned to see my dad in the hospital; however Evy is willing to make the sacrifice and return with me one day.  That is so generous of her.  The overall cost of the year including maintain our house was $130 000 which is several thousand less than we had planned but very close.  After home schooling for the year I have developed a firm opinion that people who home school when there is a perfectly good school available to them are crazy.  The kids are looking forward to having real teachers next year and they have developed a new appreciation for school.  In the future if they complain about school, I will just threaten them with home schooling.  I am sure that will set them on the right track again.

Day 357 July 28 2015 Kincardine Ontario

Getting ready to drive to Kincardine

Day 357 July 28  2015 Kincardine Ontario

We drove the 800 km from Volo to Kincardine arriving in Kincardine just before midnight.  It was after 1:30 am by the time we got to bed.

Day 356 July 27 2015 Fish Lake Beach campground Volo IL

David stuck in the roller coaster sizing chair

waiting for the kids at Six Flags Great America

getting ready to spin

Day 356 July 27  2015 Fish Lake Beach campground Volo IL

We got to Six Flags at 11:30 am and left at 10 pm.  It was a long day of walking and standing in lines with a few rides interspersed throughout the day providing some fun.  It is much better to go to these parks when school in progress.  There was one redneck wearing shirt that said among other things “in America we speak English”.  I am pretty sure he was from a different part of the States because most of the people around us were speaking Spanish. 

Day 355 July 26 2015 Fish Lake Beach campground Volo IL

Day 355 July 26  2015 Fish Lake Beach campground Volo IL

We started the day with a healthy breakfast of chocolate cake as it was Isabel’s 8^th birthday.  We then got into the truck and drove towards a campground close to Six Flags in Gurnee.  We arrived at the campground in Volo at 2:30 PM and set up the camper.  We then went shopping for a suit for David and a Dress for Isabel to wear to Allison’s and Scott’s wedding in September.  

Day 354 July 25 2015 Rest stop somewhere in Wisconsin

a quick stop to say goodbye to my Dad a Pinecrest 

Day 354 July 25  2015 Rest stop somewhere in Wisconsin

After saying good bye to my Mom we went to say good bye to my Dad at the old folks home.  We were on the road heading towards Kincardine shortly after noon.    The camper seemed to have more sway than I was used to when we left Kenora.  I attributed it to the new tires that were installed on the back of the truck.  When we stopped for the first bathroom break of the drive I discovered that the bolts holding the sway bar to the trailer frame had pulled out.  We drove until 11:30 pm and pulled into a rest area.  It was not a restful night, thanks to the refrigeration units on the trucks that parked next to us.  

Day 348 to Day 353 July 19 2015 to July 24 2015 Kenora Ontario

bringing back the monocle 

a nice pic of the kids

going as slow as a turtle 

The grand parents place in the background 

More water fun at Island Lake

Isabel new favorite pass time in Kenora

fishing with Fred Galbraith

taking Grandma for  a ride around the lake

waiting for the tow rope

spending time with the kids

Isabel Ulak the 1rst (AKA Grandma)

Isabel's first time behind a boat

enjoying the sunny day

trying to convince me to pull her behind the paddle boat

fighting over who gets the turtle 

in the water again

at the minnow pond

another selfie of me heading to the fishing hole

heading down the lake for some early morning fishing

Jack Berry

playing in the lake

passing the time playing a board game

roasting marshmallows with friends from Sault Ste. Marie

playing on the beach at Grandma's

on the dock

Super Isabel

washing the salt out of the garage

caught with my defenses down

having a water gun fight

Day 348 to Day 353  July 19 2015 to July 24 2015   Kenora Ontario

During the time in Kenora I did a few jobs around the camp and moved a few things into my mom’s apartment.  We would pick my dad up from Pine Crest on a daily basis and take him back around 8 pm in the evening.   There were a few trips to the beaver pond to empty the minnow trap and to re-bait it with cat food.  On the Sunday we went to a friend’s church for birthday cake and lunch.  One of the days I got out the fire pump and flooded the garage floor with water to get rid of the accumulated salt from the winter.  Since I had the fire pump going I had a “water gun” fight with David and his super soaker; needless to say, I won.  I would wake up just before 6 am and go fishing by myself as nobody in the family wanted to get up that early. I would be back with my limit of Pickerel in less than an hour.  It is really beautiful on the lake in the morning.  I did have a fishing partner one morning when Fred Galbraith came with me. We introduced the kids to getting pulled behind the boat on a board and they loved it.  Jack and Rose dropped in with their kids so we managed to go through quite a few bags of marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham wafers making smores, it was fun.  I did agree to get a Labrador puppy when we get back to Kincardine.  I hope I don’t live to regret that decision.

Day 347 July 18 2015 Kenora Ontario

on the quad again

 just had a good root bear burp!

Isabel's first time driving the quad!

the supervision!

Day 347  July 18 2015   Kenora Ontario

I was going to the cabin to get some life jackets and noticed that a few boards of the landing felt soft.  I gave a little jump and fell through the deck.  I spent a few hours repairing the landing in the afternoon.   Isabel drove the quad for first time today.  It was a little nerve racking for me as she is still to small to pull the brakes properly combined with the fact that she likes speed and  is a dare devil.  The one that flipped the quad was David. He came back from the quad trail walking looking for me to help.  When I got to the quad it was upside down laying on its handle bars.  I flipped it over, cleaned some mud from the controls and started it up.  The other activities of the day included putting the boat in the water, setting a minnow trap and swimming.

Day 346 July 17 2015 Kenora Ontario

Day 346  July 17 2015   Kenora Ontario

We Woke up really late and took it easy for the rest of the day.  My Mom and Dad showed up just before noon.  The most strenuous activity of the day was cooking supper.

Day 346 July 16 2015 Kenora Ontario

between Dauphin and Riding Mountain 

Onanole Manitoba

doing the scavenger hunt with Isabel

more red chair shots

the red chair in riding mountain 

enjoying Beaver Tails in Riding Mountain National Park 

Day 346  July 16 2015   Kenora Ontario

I have never been in a town where the train blows it whistle so much as Yorkton.  It seems that when it enters the town it starts blowing and 10 minutes later it must be through the town and it stops.  Needless to say it was not the best sleep of the trip. Once we got going we went to Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba.  We entered the park by Dauphin and drove south to Wasagaming. Once we got to Wasagaming Isabel competed the Junior Explorer book for the park and got the tag for Riding Mountain.  While searching for the clues to complete the junior explorer book Evy and Isabel found a Beaver Tails stand.  Once we had all the clues we had a snack of Beaver Tails.   We were going to stay in the park for the night but decided that it was not worth it as we were only 500 km away from Kenora and it did not seem any nicer.  We left the park after 5:30 and arrived in Kenora around midnight.

Day 345 July 15 2015 Yorkton Alberta

Day 345  July 15 2015   Yorkton  Alberta

We drove from Oyen to Yorkton Alberta, a distance of 630 km.  We left Oyen just after 12 pm and arrived in Yorkton at 10:30 pm.  The two long stops of the day were at a grocery store in Oyen and a Walmart in Saskatoon.  

Day 344 July 14 2015 Oyen Alberta

where we stopped for supper on the way to Oyen

a selfie on the way to the bone bed

walking into the bone bed

the bone bed 

Day 344  July 14 2015   Oyen  Alberta

We took it easy in the morning relaxing in the park and the kids played in the nearby river.  David caught a garter snake and brought it into the camper to show his mom.  When he walked into the camper he announced “snake in the camper” which was followed by Evy not so calmly saying “get it out, get it out, get it out now!”.  There were quite a few rattle snakes in the area so I was hoping that David would be careful and not grab one by mistake.   We went on a guided tour to a bone bed at 1:30 pm.  The tour was interesting as the guide explained how the region was formed and why there are so many fossils there.  Once we reached the bone bed which is a deposit of bones from hundreds of different dinosaurs we had an opportunity to explore the area.  The scenery of the badlands is very pretty and was well worth the effort it took to drive there.  We left the park and headed 2 hours towards Oyen where we camped for the night.

Day 343 July 13 2015 Dinosaur Provincial Park Alberta

Day 343  July 13 2015   Dinosaur Provincial Park  Alberta

We spent a few hours exploring the part of the park that is open to the public.  We hiked the Badlands Trail, The Trail of the Fossil Hunters which led to an old dig site.  We also spent some time just walking around the hodos and coulees and looking at the 2 partially excavated dinosaur skeletons that were in glass enclosures.  In the late afternoon Evy and David went to Brooks to buy David some runners as sandels are not allowed on the tour we are going on tomorrow.  While they were gone Isabel played in the river with a girl that she had met and I supervised.  In the evening Evy and I climbed a hodo and watched the sunset.