Last Hurrah

We've just completed a mini-vacation, our last hurrah before preschool and classes and bible studies and other fall what-nots. We spent two nights tenting at Union Reservoir. Our first camping trip as a family! You see, after Anna arrived we limited our camp outs to those with my parents and their RV. After all, grandparents and an RV are handy when kiddos are small and need a lot of stuff and a lot of sleep. Now that the kids are a bit older, we decided to break out the tent and give it a try on our own. I have great memories of camping in a tent trailer with my family when I was a kid, and wanted to expose the kiddos early. I also wanted to camp by a lake, since our Canadian forays involve mountains.

I was nervous about it, but thanks to a good amount of planning and some creative packing we had a lot of fun. Not a lot of sleep, but a lot of fun. Anna loved loved loved being in the water, and could not get enough of the waves on one windy afternoon. Isaac was less enthralled by the whole beach experience. Instead, he was happy to just be outside, running around the camp site kicking his ball and playing cars. We cooked dinners over the campfire, which is what I love to do. Fire roasted food is just sooo yummy. The simple hamburger becomes a different creature when cooked to smoky perfection. Marshmallows were roasted, of course. This is one tradition I can do without. There are few foods I will spit out of my mouth, but the bloated marshmallows is one of them (blue cheese is another, but that's a different story).

Our biggest challenge was settling down Isaac in the evenings. Apparently, running and jumping around in a tent is super-fun and incredibly stimulating when you're two. It is also stimulating when you're four, but four knows when enough is enough. Two just keeps going and going and going until Daddy must speak firmly and said two year collapses in a sad heap and cries himself to sleep. I suppose it didn't help that the tent was rather warm, owing to the unusually hot August we've been experiencing. I am so done with August and 90 degree weather.


One thing we learned is the need for more sleeping mattresses. We cobbled something together for each of us, but let me say that a yoga mat really is not for sleeping on. It just really is not. We also learned that we don't physically have room in the car to camp for more than two nights. At least, not at a beach. Beach stuff takes up some serious room. A good excuse to get a bigger vehicle? Perhaps! Overall, it was a fantastic time. I'm not sure we'll camp at Union Reservoir again - little shade, "generator friendly," and kinda noisy - but I'm looking forward to our next outing. Whenever and wherever that may be.

Catching Up

It's about five days since we returned from Calgary, and I'm slowly catching up on my life. Some of the catching up is stuff that I was supposed to have time for in Canada (like, say, blog posts) but somehow, every time I got on Mom's computer, I ended up playing a few rounds of Jewel of Atlantis. I think this befuddles Jon since I am NOT a gamer in any sense of the word. The only time I play is at my parent's house. It seems this is the only time I read, as well. I went through four books in three weeks. Usually it's one book over four months.

We drove up (over three days) and the kids reacted as expected. Anna is a great traveler and has recently taken to coloring IN the lines, which she finds great enjoyment in. Meanwhile, Isaac is very much a two year old boy. A couple of novel toy cars aided the trip, but by the end of each day he was near melt-down. A few things that helped smooth the bumps: (a) hotels with suites, pools, and free breakfasts, (b) a map listing rest stops, (c) eating only in the car so that rest stops were purely active time, (d) novel toys. Even so, this is not a drive we will repeat soon.


We were in Canada about three weeks (Jon joined us for the last week, having flown back down post-drive). I tried to keep things low key, since it's simply nice to be elsewhere for awhile. Highlights included Calaway Park, Heritage Park, and play dates with the grandkids of Mom's friends. I was also blessed to spend some time with some old friends who happened to be in the area. People I haven't seen in years, but still miss. There's something so relaxing about visiting with people who have known you forever.

We also spent time camping in Kananaskis Country, which is a lovely and somewhat undiscovered part of Alberta. So, while YOU are welcome to come, please do not tell your friends about it. We like it unpopulated. It rained a lot and the nights were gloriously frigid, but our tent was cozy and Anna slept quite well. Isaac slept in the RV with my folks and brother (who was gracious enough to spend a whole week of vacation time with his sister and her slightly manic children), because I'm no glutton for punishment. He'll have to sleep in the tent with us on our next camping adventure at the end of the summer, and that's enough for me.

Speaking of sleep, that was probably the hardest part of the whole vacation. The nights are short, even as far south as Calgary. It stays light until sometime between 10 and 10:30 p.m., which had a large effect on the kid's melatonin. A 9:30 bedtime became the norm. We're still struggling (REALLY struggling) to re-adapt.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I shook hands with the Duke of Cambridge! I was able to attend a reception with my Dad (his politicking paid off) where the prince and princess gave an appearance and short speech. Poor William looked haggard at the end of his long day, but still retained that regal air. (And yes, the Duchess is as thin as she looks on TV. This is the one question that everyone asks. I figure she looks like what she is: a 27 year old with a penchant for running who has never had kids.)

Some of the adventures took place while the kids and I were gone. While working on the yard, Jon noticed movement among the rocks. There lay a 5 foot snake tangled in some netting. Seemed like a rattler, but research revealed it to be a bullsnake. After consulting with someone at Fish & Wildlife, Jon hosed it down with cold water and removed the netting from its head. With his bare hands! Eeek!!! I'm glad he found it instead of the kids. I didn't know the snakes could grow so large around here.

So now we're home and I'm making a dent in the jungle that has become our backyard, attacking the virtual pile of emails, and the actual pile of snail mail. We appear to be snake-free, as evidenced by the small rabbit who breached my back yard defenses. Maybe we should have kept the snake a little longer.