A Charm Of Dragonflies

   The kids and I woke up at about 9:30 in the morning. I was surprised that they slept in that long, but I was not surprised that I did. 
   I got them fed and into their bathing suits and took them down to the dog park beach so that everyone else could continue sleeping. 
   As I watched the kids swim I noticed ​the Ruby Meadowhawk dragonflies clinging to the reeds in the lake. 

   There were so many dragonflies all over the place. I have recently learned from my sister that a group of dragonflies is called a "charm of dragonflies". I think that is very lovely. Just as lovely as the one that landed on me. 

This Canada Darner was not concerned about me at all. I was able to transfer it from my pant leg to my finger very easily. It stayed perched on my finger for probably a good ten minutes or so. The kids were able to get a good look at it and were impressed that it stayed for so long. 

As the kids were swimming, they had to get out of the way for a mother mallard duck and her ducklings as they crossed over from open water into the reeds. They swam quite close to the kids and I was surprised by this. The kids hadn't even noticed them right away and I had to shout and say "Hey! Watch out for the baby ducks!"

Another type of dragonfly we saw at the beach was the Chalk-fronted Corporal. 

The dog park beach was much quieter at this time of the morning. Aside from a few canoes out in the water, it was just me and the kids. We stayed for about 2 hours or so before heading back to see if anyone else was awake yet. 

We got back to camp to find that everyone was up and coffee was on. The kids went to play in the woods and created a little caterpillar house for a gypsy moth caterpillar that they found. It had all the things a caterpillar could want. there was a moss floor, some leaves to eat, a stone wall to keep it safe, and a section of tree bark to give it some shade. The kids put a lot of thought and effort into making their new caterpillar friend happy. 

   In the afternoon, Meema and Great Grandpa showed up for a short visit. Meema took the kids to the beach again. (I wasn't kidding when I said that the kids liked to swim).
   After Meema and Great Grandpa left we all headed down to the dog park to do some fishing. Well, they did some fishing. I went in swimming. The water was so warm. It was perfect!
We spent a few hours there and headed back when we got hungry for supper. When I got back I found another Chalk-fronted Corporal dragonfly hanging out on my car. 
   After supper, the kids said good bye to their parents because they had stuff to do early the next day and couldn't stay. Tonight it would be just me and the kids. 

   The kids spent most of the evening playing in the woods with the friends they had made a couple of campsites over. They had a great time playing frisbee and and exploring the woods. 
    When it became dusk, we took a short walk to the beach and saw the mother duck with her babies huddled up together on a rock beside a sea gull. They were settling in for the night, but the kids and I were just beginning to have fun.

When it got dark enough we brought out some sparklers and lit them up. We made designs and letters in the air, 
Then I got out a bunch of glo-sticks and the kids had fun dressing up in them. They would make bracelets and anklets and even mustaches with them.

Then they discovered that they could twirl them and swing them around to make circles and shaped of colours. I would take pictures and show them and they thought it was fabulous. 

   They wanted to go frog hunting again and since I hadn't gone the night before, I thought this was a great idea. I told them that they would have to show me how it's done. So dressed in our glo-stick finest, with nets in hand, we went down to the beach to look for frogs. 
   It was not difficult to find them. And the bull frogs were very big! The kids would take turns holding the flashlight while one of the other ones would net the frog. They would hod the frog for a moment before letting it go and then we would walk a little farther down the beach and they would switch places and catch the next frog. I was impressed with how they didn't fight with each other and how gentle they were with the frogs. We got about 5 frogs and 2 toads (that we weren't expecting). 

Eventually we made our way back to camp where the kids washed up and brushed their teeth. They took their glo-sticks into the tent and crawled into their sleeping bags. I had to clean up a few things outside to make sure that no raccoons got into anything. I was only gone a few minutes but when I got back to the tent the kids were all sound asleep. Once again they had tired themselves out with all the fun they had that day. It had been a great trip. It was too bad we had to pack up in the morning to go home. But I am sure we will all go camping together again sometime soon.