If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you know I have been counting the days until we can open our trailer in beautiful Bobcayegeon....and guess what? The day has finally arrived!!! We will be loading the truck and heading north by (hopefully) 10am today and we cannot wait!

Let me tell you about our trailer park! Green Acres Trailer Park, is located on the west shore of Pigeon Lake in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.. It is a family owned and operated park (for the past 38 years!!), by the McBride Family, they are such great people and are the part of the reason we love Green Acres so much. The park is so beautiful and well maintained, it's "small" compared to many others and that's one of the the things we love about it the most.

My in-laws were the first ones in our family to put a trailer in Green Acres back in the 90's so our kids have spent time at the park since they were babies. (My Mother-in-law is still in the park as is her twin sister!) We visited the park from time to time, used their trailer the odd weekend but it wasn't until 2008, after my MS diagnosis that Green Acres became a bit of a haven for us. I was going through treatment and wasn't faring well. Life at home was busy and stressful so we asked my in-laws if we could use their trailer for an extended long weekend. This was the longest amount of time (5 days) we had ever spent at their trailer and really the first time that we understood why people who had trailers loved the lifestyle so much.

We went home and talked about getting our own trailer in Green Acres and decided to take the plunge in September of 2009 and bought a trailer that was up for sale in the park. It was only a one bedroom but it was beautiful, it had the deck, shed, bbq, the works. And it had a pull out couch for the boys. We decided if we loved it as much as we hoped we would, we would eventually get a two bedroom model. And we did, we LOVED it from the get go, the kids included. They gave up their organized summer sports in lieu of spending time up north. Kids can really be kids up there, they spend every waking hour outside in the fresh air swimming, fishing, playing manhunt, just hanging out and being kids. They definitely had more freedom at a young age then they would have had back home in the city. We were able to relax, unplug and just BE. We have many trailer friends and acquaintances in the park but live a pretty quiet, simple life up there, doing our own thing.

In 2014 we sold our first trailer and bought one with a second bedroom and it was great and we continued to spend every possible moment there from May-October. I even had a green thumb up there, something I never have at home!

Our second trailer with the bunk room, still on the same Lot.

The only complaint I ever had was on hot, humid days, (which if you live in Ontario you know that our summer consists mainly of days like this), the walk to and from the lake from where our trailer was situated, was often difficult for me with my MS. The extreme heat is not my friend, I can't even describe what it does to my body, it's just not nice!

We talked about possibly moving to a lot closer to the water and for a variety of other personal reasons, we had some second thoughts about this trailer. We were also intrigued by some of the new park models that were coming into our park, they were like little houses! We were especially intrigued when we found out how comparable they were in price to our current trailer AND they were made right here in Ontario.

At the end of trailer season in 2016, we decided to approach the park owners and put our name in for a new lot closer to the water and as luck would have it, we got a call a week after we closed for the season, telling us a lot that we LOVED would be available for 2017. We made the arrangements to put our current trailer up for sale and luck continued to be on our side (which never happens) and it sold within a week! We headed to the RV Show in Toronto the following weekend and placed an order for our new trailer. We can't say enough good things about Niagara Trailers who are the Dealer we chose to use and about Northlander Industries themselves, just amazing customer service. Northlander let us visit their factory in Exeter, Ontario and we got to see how our trailer had been built from start to finish, amazing!!

It was a long winter last year but finally our new trailer was delivered in May.

Delivery Day of our new Northlander Reflection

Then the fun began! Inside we had to unpack, just like moving to a new house! And outside it was time to start the deck. Hubby had never built a deck before and had spent the off season researching and watching you tube videos and he had a plan! We had a HUGE delivery from Home Depot Canada and then the fun began! My hubby spent most of summer working away because he was determined to get it done. I helped as much as I could (mostly made sandwiches and held boards) my cousin Jeff was a big help the first day and the kids helped a bit when they could and slowly but surely it started to come together. We made more trips to Home Depot then I can even count!!

Our youngest son worked in the park last summer so he and I packed up at the end of June and headed north for the ENTIRE SUMMER, nine long weeks. !!! It was beyond amazing to not have to come home. Hubby was up for 5 weeks and back and forth in between!

This trailer is definitely our home away from home. We love it so much and do not, for one moment, ever take it fore granted. This is another one of those things where people tell you "you're so lucky" or "must be nice". Well guess what? We are very lucky, and it is nice! My husband has a good job and works very hard, is a super smart guy. And as you all know, i'm a Thrifty Diva and can stretch a buck farther than most. I'm not sure why I even feel the need to justify those riduculous comments with an answer but I do, that's just me. So now you know, only nice comments are welcome because i'm sure all of you were taught the golden rule of "if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all" right?

Having this trailer in this beautiful park has been a god send for all of us, but for me especially, for living a peaceful, stressfree life, for helping me manage my MS. At least for 5 months of the year - I take what I can get. Stress is one of the BIGGEST triggers for my MS so having this place where we can go to get away from all the hectic day to day "stuff" is truly a gift.

We have met many great people, our children have made life long friends, and we hope that our boys will also follow in our footsteps one day and have a trailer of their own in Green Acres. Wouldn't that be great? Until then, we still have bunkbeds!

Thanks for hanging in and letting me share not only my happy place with you all, but also our BIGGEST DIY ever! Stay tuned, I have lots of little DIY projects for this summer so I hope you'll follow along.

Michele xo

PS....have you ever been to Bobcaygeon? Did you know it was kinda made famous by The Tragically Hip? Leave me a comment if you've heard the song!