Enniskillen Conservation Area Archives

Yesterday we had a great hike with a small group of moms at Enniskillen Conservation Area, it was the first time any of them had been there. What is nice about hiking here is that it is fairly flat, so great for beginners, the trails are not too long and there are picnic areas and outhouses throughout the trails. We hiked the outer loop and then turned back in to the middle as we were nearing the end of the trail to stop at the main picnic area to enjoy a snack and a chat. Two of us brought our dogs along so they had a great time rolling around in the grass and playing with each and even managed to collect quite a few burs between the two of them. The little ones all seemed to be enjoying themselves and all managed to stay awake for the whole hike. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather, the sun was shining and there was very little wind.

Here’s a photo of all of us after our break Today Paige had her first swimming lesson. It is a rather large class, but I am sure it could shrink as time goes on. Paige was having such a great time kicking and floating in the water. Paige giggled away each time we bobbed down under the water and back up. I definitely have a water baby. I am happy that she really enjoyed the pool. Bath time is one of her favourite activities, but we weren’t sure how she would react in the pool, but she took to it right away. Paige definitely prefers the big pool to the warm baby pool. Tomorrow we are off to the Toronto Zoo to walk with the same group of mom’s we walked with last week. This week it is going to be a bit more challenging since we are going to be tackling the large hill at the Canadian section of the zoo. Hopefully I won’t feel the burn too much (I like to think I am in reasonable shape, but I guess the walk tomorrow will prove it!). Depending on the weather we might stick around for a little bit after to see some different animals than we did last time (maybe check out the Africa section of the zoo to see if the lions are out and watch the penguins for a bit). If we don’t stick around at the zoo, I may pull out the finger paints when we get home so Paige can do some more painting for family since she had a blast last time. I think this time I may put the navy blue away and not put it out as an option as Paige gravitated to that one when I had all of the bright colours in front of her.

Birthday card for her Pop’s Thursday we are leading another hike back up to Country Preserve in Uxbridge. Maybe this time we will try a different loop, or at least a new portion of the trail system. We have a busy week ahead, but no plans for the week-end yet. I am sure we will be off on an adventure of sorts come the week-end since we generally find some new trail to check out or some new place. We discovered a number of hiking trails near us the other night when we took some back roads home from our hike in Uxbridge, so we may need to check out a few of those and see what they are all about.

So this is my first post with the new direction my blog is taking. The past 6 months have just flown by with my daughter. We head off for her 6 month appointment today to have her weighed and wellness checkup. She was born weighing 9lbs 12.6oz and was definitely worth the wait. I have been in love ever since.

We have a pretty busy schedule these days. We have a stroller walk every Friday with a group of mom’s in Scarborough where we walk a paved path down to the lake and back. I think it is about a 6 km walk on flat terrain. It is a great group of ladies and we generally have some good laughs. We met this group when we joined a hiking group back in November where we were hiking with the babies in carriers 1-2 times a week. Now that the little ones are getting bigger this group prefers the strollers.

Thursdays is Musical Babies through the Ontario Early Years Centres (http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/oeyc/index.aspx) They have some great programs for little ones. My daughter just loves singing, so this was a great match for her. This is the second session we have done of this program. It doesn’t look like they are running this program for April so I will have to find another musical type program for her.

Wednesdays are a variety of activities. Sometimes we stay at home and play in the yard, go for a stroller walk up the road or a hike. Last week with this beautiful weather we organized a group of moms (through meetup) to go hiking on the Seaton Trail. It was great weather and great to meet some new moms in our area with a similar interest. We hiked just over 5 km on the trail heading south from Whitevale so it is a moderate trail due to some hills.

Tuesdays tend to be a quiet day at home with a walk in the afternoon in the stroller which usually entails visiting with neighbours along the way, seeing the wild turkeys and various other wildlife and if the weather is nice we walk up to the pond at the end of the road to watch the ducks.

Mondays are our library day, when we go to get some new music and a book or two. As I mentioned previously my daughter loves music so we usually try to get 3-5 new children’s cd’s to listen to for the week. She seems to be a big fan of Sharon, Lois & Bram in the car and loves to sing along with them. She is also a fan of The Wiggles and Fred Penner. We are also adding some of our favourites in there as well. This Monday we had organized a hike at Glen Major Forest, but with the wind chill (-12oC) I decided to cancel it rather than take a chance with the little ones.

The cancelled hike we have now tried to schedule for Wednesday (tomorrow) so we will keep our fingers crossed it is a great day.

This week-end we started renovating our kitchen. We can’t afford to replace the kitchen so we are giving it a fresh coat of paint, replacing the countertops, sink, faucet and hardware. We went to Ikea on Friday to price out butcher block counters and tried to pick them up but realized when we got there they would not fit in my vehicle so left Ikea and went and took a look at some sinks and taps and picked up the paint for the cupboards on the island. I painted 3 coats on the cabinets just to be on the safe side. We went with Behr Pencil Point for the island. (I will post pictures of the finished kitchen once complete).

Since the weather was great on Sunday we went out to hike at Enniskillen Conservation area. We hadn’t been there before so it was a new adventure. It was also our daughters first time in the backpack carrier, since I normally carry her in a soft carrier for hiking. She loved the backpack since she could see so much more. I could feel her kicking and bouncing the whole way! The trails were nice and easy and there were some great picnic areas throughout the trails with washrooms. I think we will be returning here throughout the spring and summer months with picnics.

What activities do you like to do with your little one? Any hiking trails you enjoy? I would love to hear from you.

Tag: Enniskillen Conservation Area

Busy week

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