This is how week 2 started for me. A quite evening, all alone with a beautiful view. At first I wondered if I might get mopey at night, sad that Michael wasn't with me and a little nervous about being in the bush without cell service alone, but it went better then I thought! The first night I got the kids ready for bed, then did my dishes and made myself some coffee, started a fire and sat there in front of the fire enjoying the peace. I spent time reading and reflecting, something I rarely find time to do at home, and it was wonderful. I read Second Hand Jesus, it was a simple read but well worth it, it really made me think about my faith and question what aspects of it were my own first hand knowledge of Christ, what had I gleaned for myself through my relationship and study of the scriptures, and what had I simply ingested from people around me without questioning it and finding it for myself. Once it got too dark to read I just sat there watching the fire, praying, and thinking about what our past year had been like, how it had changed me, and where I was going from here, who was I going to become. It turned out to be a good time. I definitely wouldn't want to have to camp without Michael every year, but this year, it worked out okay. Michael did make it a little easier on us (me) by showing up to surprise us for supper on Tuesday and Wednesday night and then drove home to after dark so he could get up and milk at 4am I only ended up having a couple lonely campfires which was nice. The rest of our week went pretty smoothly, we spent most of our time biking in the morning, going for walks, and the afternoons were spent at the beach. We were blessed with such beautiful weather!! The kids also kept themselves busy with other random activities. Cheyanne started a baby pine cone collection, Bella made a video game on a piece of wood, Emme ran around singing "rockstars rock," and Mason played in the dirt. We did have two crazy wind storms, thankfully they both happened over the weekend when Michael was there to help. The first one came on us so fast that we barely had time to get the awning in and the tent over the picnic table down. It was definitely a little praise God moment because we had just walked up from the beach seconds before it hit us, had we still been at the beach we would have lost both the awning and tent for sure, along with all the kids' floaties and other random beach toys. The wind was so strong I could barely walk against it and stuff was flying everywhere. It was actually quite scary, especially the first storm, but even the second one caused a fair bit of damage. The waves were four feet high and crashed the beach so hard that when the storm ended there was about a four foot strip of sandy beach where before it had been all rock. Trees were down all over, five landed in the campsite across from us, a boat trailer got squashed, a vehicle was written off, and another two trailers had near misses. It made for an eventful end to our trip, and we brought home a little girl (Bella) who overcame her fear of mosquitoes only to replace it with anxiety of wind, even a light breeze can get her screaming! All in all it was an amazing camping trip. The kids and I had a lot of fun and when Michael came it was even better, for him and for us. He had been very tired, and mopey while we were gone, sometimes silence gives you more time to think then you want. I thought that staying two weeks instead of ten days would make it easier to go home, but it wasn't, I still got teary-eyed leaving like I always do. Once we are up there it is so hard to come home, all the responsibilities of work and cleaning the house feel so daunting, being there with no demands from the outside world, and time to sit and enjoy the sun, is so nice, no one but our own little family to think about. It is definitely a nice break. The only thing that makes coming home in the middle of summer appealing is the promise of a nice hot shower and a meal out with the family!
After a couple more days with no nap Mason again fell asleep out on the water, lol.
biking was how the kids spent a lot of their time this year
Mason didn't have a bike but he sure loved pulling the wagon around
Bella started to glide on the run bike, amazing for her because she definitely isn't our most daring child!
Emmersen became a pro at riding her bike, she would even take crazy rabbit trails through the bush, although she didn't master using the brakes so it was a little sketchy watching her fly down those hills!
Boccie with the kids, Mason kept stealing the little ball even when it wasn't his turn so everyone was always mad at him most of the time, and we had to make sure we didn't go to far or we were sure to have a few melt downs along the way home. Outside of that the kids loved and it was a fun way to spend the evening before bedtime.
The kids took over the campsite next to us, it was so quiet the whole time we were up there that this beautiful beach site was open most of the time. The kids loved being able to pretend they had their own campsite without any adults in charge :)
Hard to see but it's the four kids hiding out from the crazy storm and watching out the window as the trees were falling all over the place!
Once the wind stopped we went for a little stroll in the rain and did some puddle jumping. Mason was so funny, he was so excited by all the puddles that he didn't know where to run first, lol. He was the cutest little thing in his boxers and green boots!
Having fun in the rain!
This is something we definitely weren't doing last year, with all the rain we had we were trying to keep the kids dry at all costs, but this year after such hot weather, a little rain was kind of fun!
The next day when the weather turned around we went on a garbage hike to collect the stuff that had blown away from people's campsites. We found all kinds of things, ear-plugs, newspaper, even 42 of our playing cards that had been shot all over the campground by the wind, lol. If the cards hadn't been camouflaged on one side we might have found the rest too but they were tricky to see in the forest.
fun at the beach
Bella loves her sunglasses!
This was the neatest little airplane. The man camped beside us had such a fun hobby. He had all kinds of remote control toys. Crazy fast monster trucks, helicopters, and a float plane. The float plane was my favourite, it was so neat to watch him fly it around. I think that's a hobby I might encourage Micahel to take up when he's retired, although I bet it's expensive!
With a view like this you can see why it's so hard to leave (although I am aware of what a beautiful view I have where I live). This view holds so many great memories for me and it is one of my favourite places in the whole world! I hope my kids will love it as much as I do one day, and I think they are off to a pretty good start because Bella keeps asking when we can go back :)
Talking a nature hike over the bridge
our traditional "last day camping family photo"
having a little fun before the rain comes!
look at us, all cleaned up, you'd never know we had just come from two weeks in the bush!
East Side Mario's for a delicious dinner out, and we had awesome service too!
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