Canatara Park and the Ontario Visitor's Center

Canatara Park in Sarnia is a beautiful area on the lake that offers so many adventures!  It has huge open grassy areas, lots of shady spots, multiple playgrounds, long stretches of sandy beach, and even an animal farm petting zoo!  We've made several trips to Canatara Park this summer, sometimes to just enjoy a few minutes on the playground and other times for a full day of fun at the beach.  Our church even had service there on the beach one Sunday followed by baptism in Lake Huron.

One weekend this summer they held the first annual Bluewater Beach Fest at Canatara Park.  It was a collection of vender booths, jumpy houses, and local bands on the beach.  They had professional sand sculptors come in and create a large display of the Bluewater Bridge.  There was also a amateur sand castle building competition.  The festival was fun and after viewing the sand castles, Brenna spent the rest of her time jumping in the collection of bouncy houses.  It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

The amateur sand structures were not as impressive by comparison!

I thought Brenna did pretty good on her sand castle!

On a whim, the following week Brenna and I returned to Canatara Park to visit the animal farm.  A couple of weeks earlier, we had been invited by friends to visit the farm, but were unable to go.  With school quickly approaching and the knowledge that there are some things you can't (or don't want to) do through the winter I thought we had better squeeze it in.  It was a fun morning outing!  We got there bright and early and the animals were all out enjoying the morning feedings.  The farm is full of all kinds of animals; cows, horses, ponies, mules, pigs, goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and peacocks.  We took our time and strolled through the farm giving all the animals some love along the way.

After the farm we spent some time on the playground playing with kids.  Then we moved on to the beach for a quick run through the water.  We love the beaches here!  We've stopped off more than a dozen times this summer, sometimes just to play in the sand or stick our toes in the cold water.  It's provided lots of entertainment for us this summer.  Brenna also enjoyed checking out some of the marine artifacts that are displayed throughout the park!

On another whim, on our way home we decided to stop off at the Ontario Visitor's Center and scout out some information about Niagara Falls.  We hope to make a trip soon, since it's less than a 4 hour drive from here.  I thought it would be a quick visit but Brenna enjoyed playing among the geese statuary, so it turned out to be a fun stop-off too!

We've really enjoyed all the local attractions that our new town has to offer!