How to Fill a Saturday

(with more free things to do in the Niagara Region)

As always, you can click on individual pictures to view them in more detail.

Start out with a visit to the United Empire Loyalists Park (a playground) with all four kids. (Intimidating name for a playground. I really don't want to know what it means.)

Here, they could pretend to be Spiderman...

or ride a tongue from 10 feet high down to ground level.

Yes, some playground equipment designer has a seriously twisted sense of humour. One, which was not lost on my youngest son. Who, when disembarking from said tongue slide declared “Mommy! It licked my bum all the way down!" Oh, lord.

Next, a short walk over to the Stevensville Conservation Area where we hiked along Black Creek. This I think could be more appropriately named Strong-Coffee-With-a-Touch-of-Milk Creek. But I don't think they'll change it.

Black Creek runs alongside Mud Pond for a while. Okay, it's not really named Mud Pond.
We saw a few mallards in the pond. A few hawks in the sky.

The kids found the most adorable baby turtle between the creek and the pond.

Don't worry. We put him back where he'd be safe and hopefully able to live out a long and happy life.

Next, we headed down the road where an associate of my husband's has built himself a castle - complete with a moat. The building is still in progress but the moat is complete. Why the moat, you ask? The town of Stevensville wouldn't allow the owner to land his small plane on his land surrounding the ‘castle’, though they did note that he could land it on water. Hence the moat. Yes, he had floaters installed on his small plane and that's where he lands it.

On down the road and we get to Windmill Point Beach. Alas, no windmill. (We've been searching Windmill Point for the windmill and haven't found one yet.) The beach is a gem on its own. It’s small, quiet, and rather private. So much so, I’m almost reluctant to blog about it. Much of it is rocky -- great slabs of rock with spaces between where water has gotten in and been warmed. The beach was covered in small shells and the boys filled their sand pails with them. The older kids jumped from rock to rock in the surf, letting the cold water break against their feet and legs. Everyone had a blast. The younger two explored and found treasures. We all got our toes wet. The water's not quite 40 degrees yet, but where it was shallow and still it was warm from the sun….which on this day in April had us at 65F. If the wind weren’t so strong over the lake, I’m sure it would have been in the lower 70’s.

Happily, I was wearing my Propet water shoes, which my son got me for Christmas last year. Those rocks didn't hurt my feet! These are the MOST comfortable water shoes I've ever had. They're like second skin. I don't think they'll work for both hiking and water, as they seem to be made of a material that would break down from heavy wear. They're wonderful for the beach, though. My feet get sore too easily and I certainly couldn't walk on rocks bare footed. If you need water shoes, I highly recommend these. They feel like a cloud, lots of spring and though necessarily tight, not binding at all.

Each of these places is less than 10 minutes from our home. There are several more beaches for us to explore in this area yet. I think we'll be able to fill every Saturday without repeating an outing this year. Don't worry. I'll share!

Our day wasn’t finished yet. We headed home for a barbecue. With that, the day was done.

That, folks, is how you fill a Saturday.