Sonya's Blog - Day 41 - Happy Anniversary!

Sonya’s Blog - Day 41 - August 2nd - Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 17th Wedding Anniversary and we still like each other:) We were actually married on the Sunday of the August Long Weekend in 1998, so everything is lining up for this anniversary. We don’t have huge plans for the day, but it will be fun.

Blake made me my favourite breakfast, Crepes, and they were yummyliscious. The kids love them too, so it was a special day for them as well. We then packed up a lunch, thanks Tasha, and got ready to go to the beach. We headed over to Sauble Beach, which is about 30 minutes away and is the 2nd largest fresh water beach in the world. The longest one is about 40 minutes in the other direction; Wasaga Beach. Well that is what both these beaches are claiming, I haven't checked up on the facts This beach is famous for being a retro beach because it was “hot when your Grandmother was hot!” Blake’s Dad went to Sauble Beach when he was a kid and had fond memories of it. We knew when we were close because the line of traffic was incredible. We decided to park a few blocks away and walk down instead of sitting in traffic. We were hoping there was a portion of the beach that would allow dogs as we had Kizmet with us, or at least a park behind the beach that was accessible. The streets were teaming with people and lots of beach like shops. We went the wrong way when we first got there and immediately got in trouble for having Kizmet as we were on First Nations land and they did not want our dog even in the parking lot, which is where we were. Of course Kizmet chose to pee at that point and the guy was unhappy, we were on the very edge the parking lot, nowhere close to the beach area. So we walked the other way, which is not First Nations land. We chose a point to check out and luckily there was a bylaw officer there so we asked him if there was anywhere that was a dog beach and lo and behold it was the beach area that was right in front of us. Thank goodness because I was tired of carrying my chairs and the lunch bag. We got a nice spot just by the water and there were quite a few people there with their dogs as well. Natasha tried to get Kizmet in the water, but the waves were quite big and she is scared of waves. She actually likes rivers more than lakes. It was quite windy and a little chilly for me, but Blake headed in the water with the kids and I stayed with Kizmet.

At the Beach:

Kizmet enjoying the beach:

Isaac wanted to build some sand castles and while he had lots of sand toys he had no buckets. I had seen some buckets for sale, so we headed over to see how much they were. We found a bucket for $2 and he was so excited! We headed back down to the water so he could build a village.

Natasha and Blake were reading by this time, but after a bit they decided to head out into the waves with the boogie boards. The wind had picked up quite a bit and the waves were very good for boogie boarding. I was reading and Isaac was building sandcastles, but it seemed to be getting windier and when I looked up and there was clearly a storm heading our way. It almost looked like a huge shelf was coming our way and it was very dark and angry looking. Blake and Natasha were still in the water, but I was worried at how fast the storm was coming our way and how windy it was getting. I told Isaac to stay there and continue to build, but not go in the water. I was going to take Kizmet and get the truck and then I was going to come down and pick them up. There was a fast food joint nearby that had parking out front so I told him I would meet them there and hoped that everything would work out. As I was walking back up to the truck it seemed so nice out and the line of traffic trying to get to Sauble Beach was even longer! The problem was from up there you could not see the storm front coming, it was behind the buildings and there was not really a clear view of the storm until you got to the beach. The line of cars coming in was at least 3 times longer than when we arrived, we couldn’t even see the end of it. I went a different route to try and get to the beach a little faster and hoped there was an alternative road that went down. It worked out perfect for me, I found a road that went to the beach that only had 3 cars on it! I was quite a bit down the beach from where Blake and the kids were, but the traffic was much better coming from that direction. I came up to the fast food place just after the kids and Blake got there and we all piled in, just as the storm was almost upon us. Here is a pic:

We decided to take the scenic tour back through Wiarton, the home of Wiarton Willie. It had started to rain by this point, but we were hoping it wouldn’t be too bad. It alternated between drizzling and raining the whole way back, but nothing like Kansas City. After Wiarton we drove along the coast through a couple of small towns. We saw a lovely wedding in a back yard, but they were getting soaked by the rain and no tent was up! It was a very nice drive along the shores of Lake Huron back to Owen Sound and not nearly as busy as the main highway. We popped into the grocery store when we got back to Owen Sound. It had stopped raining by the time we got back to town, but when we were about to leave the grocery store it started chucking it down. Blake ran out to grab the truck and bring it closer to the store, he got absolutely soaked. We made it back to the RV and the train had let up for a bit. We have no power back at the campsite, so we are running lights off of our battery for now. We will have to start up our generator if the power stays off too long. We had a game of Settlers of Catan and then had supper. I came close to winning, but I made a tactical error and Natasha took the game. Ahh, it was a good one.

The rain has been on and off since we got back, so we are just going to hang out in the RV for the rest of the night. Poor Kizmet is hiding under the table and is not happy about the rain and the thunder. She is kind of worn out from the beach so she is able to sleep.

I have started a new book after finishing the Litigators. I was right about how things were going to turn out for our young lawyer, but it was still an enjoyable read with some nicely screwed up characters. I am now reading The Borgia Bride which is a historical fiction about the powerful families (The Aragon and Borgia) in Italy in the 15th century. I am only about 20 pages into it, so nothing has really happened yet. It is a tale of incest, betrayal and poison so hopefully it is a good one.

Well it is pouring rain again, so I will get back to my book.

Sonya