Camping!!!!!

We were SO thankful that Keziah's surgery was moved from July/August to the end of June. That gave us 6 weeks of healing time before we went camping. We LOVE camping. I grew up going to a cottage, with my first camping trip when I went with my Grade 8 class. Nathan grew up camping. We have taken on that tradition every summer, starting as soon as we got married. Literally. We went camping on our honeymoon!! :o) For 12 years we camped in a tent. Last year we found a fantastic deal with a beautiful trailer and so we now camp the glorified way (yes, we have a microwave, a/c and heat in the trailer but not a TV, so that's still camping, right?.....:o).

Having two kids now, we have thoroughly enjoyed our purchase. There was at one time in our camping week that I took pictures of our site as I chuckled in how different our site looked a few years ago. My. We have gone from a tent, clothes line with two bathing suits and towels and two bikes to a campsite cluttered with a trailer, bikes, bike trailer, play yard, high chair, sand toys, play toys, crocs, a clothesline filled with clothes that are sized 3 and under, life jackets, pack and play and a little bitty lawn chair that is purple.  Ahhh, I love that type of clutter! :o)

We went to Sibbald Provincial Park from Monday to Saturday. It is a GREAT park (especially for little kids) during the week but stay away from it on the weekend! It gets incredibly busy then! It's not a park we would go to just the two of us but because we have kidlets now, how we pick our parks has changed, too.

The weather was iffy the whole week, with a LOT of rain, clouds and some days were cool (15 degrees). We had one beach day but in the end that was okay (it took me till near the end of the trip to rearrange my thinking and be okay with the weather-as if my complaints would change anything. Ah, so fickle am I). Lincoln sleeps so much still (2.5 hours in the morning and 3.5  hours in the afternoon) so we spent a lot of time on our campsite. He forced us to relax! And relax we did!!! Here are a few some pictures:

Our supervisor while we set up camp.

Once set up, we pulled out the bike trailer to check things out. This thing sure was handy! Thanks, Aunt Val!!

 
He never smiled but he never cried either. So we think he liked it.

Spending time at the amazing park Sibbald has.

Sand, sand and more sand! Lincoln LOVED the sand and it was fun watching him try to grab at the sand that was trickling out of his hand, but he just couldn't grab it!

Back at the campsite, Lincoln worked on his reading skills, the avid reader that he is :o)

My mom bought Kez the Playmobil camping set for her birthday. Once it was all put together by her dad, Keziah played with this all week long. She loved it!! Thanks, Oma!!

What? We can still be princesses while camping!! Besides, it helped us pass the time away while it rained.

Off to catch some butterflies. It was more successful to catch bubbles.

 Enjoying one of the many fun park programs. But who needs park programs when you have a dad that will do crafts with you??!

A whole bouquet, just for ME :o)

"Mom, I am GOING get this crawling thing downpat whether you like it or no!"

The first day it didn't rain (Wednesday) we headed to the beach. It wasn't sunny but that is perfect for Pale Boy. It was somewhat muggy so it wasn't too cool.

(yes, he has a neck.......)

Lincoln had no problems with sitting or standing in the water. He loved it! I, on the other hand, was tired of trying to keep every stick, sand and stone from entering his mouth. So in the bucket he went. He liked it at first but it didn't last too long!

"Anyone feel sorry for me? ANYONE??!!"

Keziah also loves the water, even when it's poured on her!

Can you not hear her laughter??! :o)

 Once dried off, I put him on the blanket to play. I am not sure why I took the blanket. He sure didn't stay on it!! I also didn't realize how much sand ended up in his mouth till a few days later :o)

The next day was sunny! We were waiting for it so we were ready!!!! Off to the beach we go!

And I took a larger tub of water for Lincoln. That worked! He played in it for quite awhile!

Driving back and forth throughout the park meant we didn't buckle her up. I know. Bad parents. Although we drove a mere 20 km/h, she still felt the need to hang on to the handle:

This is how Keziah enjoys the campfires:

Nathan read 3.5 books, and no they weren't all kids' books :o)

Oh, the life!!

Overall, it was a great holiday filled with family time. I am treasuring the memories made with these blessings.

(I know what you are thinking......she actually narrowed down her camping pictures to just just a few?! Ha!! Yes. Yes, I did. And believe me, it was hard!! Sorry for the picture overload!! :o)