This last week of camping has surely been a blessing. Each day, as I awake and walk out my door into the still warm early morning air I can’t help but speak out loud thanking the Lord for this unexpected late summer holiday!
If you could feel the quiet and calm in the air that I feel as I gaze around me.
This campsite is such a wonderful difference to the last one in that we are right on the beach. This is the view from my bedroom window.
The first few days here it was hard to see the land on the other side of the lake, due to the heavy smoke layer that was cast over the land. There is a forest fire about one hour from here that is still 0% contained. Thankfully, it is in a forestry area, but still, the nearby town has been evacuated as they have not been able to get it under any form of control.
The kids have enjoyed having their bikes here and even though Briton is not big enough to ride his own two-wheeler bike, he had the pleasure of being a passenger on Cassidy’s bike.
We discovered this amazing foam on the beach. At first, I panicked (literally) thinking my children had been taking bubbles down to the beach. So funny! Turns out it is sea foam and the collected buckets and buckets of the stuff!
When I went and bought groceries for this impromptu trip I bought blueberries, pineapple, and cherries. Oh so wonderful!! I bought three big bags of cherries, since it was a holiday after all. I had no clue how expensive it was until I got here and checked out my receipt - $24!! LOL!! Oh well, they were wonderful.
Wonderful that is until they hit my stomach. Oh, my dad used to tell me, “Don’t eat too many cherries. Not good for your stomach.” Aggghhh!! What could they go to me? HAHA! Well, let me tell you. DON’T eat too many cherries!!! My stomach was in knots for the next two days. I consumed Rolaids like nobodies business, until thankfully my friend gave me a homeopathic remedy and my stomach got back to normal. But I have to tell you those yummy cherries were worth all the trips to my second home – the outhouse!! *grin*
As well as the yummy fruit I also stocked on a few junk food items: chips, pop, and lollipops. I was trying to be a bit careful when it came to letting the kids eat too much pop, because until this summer they really didn’t drink pop. This summer they have truly enjoyed the luxury of those forbidden sugar drinks.
So I selectively bought three new kinds of canned drinks: Brisk fruit juice – that was a hit; Brisk lemonade – also enjoyed by the kids; and then my second mistake: Nestea Vitao Mandarin flavoured. It *sounded* good. I mean, mandarin flavoured drink. Yum.
Not! It turned out to be an antioxidant!! *grin* It was so healthy that it didn’t even have a list of calories, calcium, sugar and all!! It simply told me to drink one as needed for antioxidant purposes! Cassidy begged to try one, so I told him he could. Later he told me I could keep it. Too healthy for him. Now, I told him, I have to do my research and find out if it really was healthy.
And the other item, the one the kids love, was the lollipops. Each day the children line up and I ask them how their day has gone. Have they done anything not so good today? They wrack their brains for their ‘sins’. *grin* And then I ask, “Did you make right?” They very earnestly tell me how they made it right with the person they wronged.
Or I will ask what they did that was loving and kind this day? It is nice to see them looking for ways to bless their brothers and sisters, and then hearing and seeing how nice they are treating each other.
They then happily take their lollipop. It is all done in good fun and they love it.
One day, I was looking for something and I said that the person who found it could be the one to give out the lollipops the next time.
And she took full advantage of making it as hard as possible on her big brothers:
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and had possible good weather til Thursday, at which time it would get cooler. There was also a possibility of rain one day. Well, we did not expect the rain we got!
We woke up on Tuesday morning to grey skies, but warm temperatures. It began to rain and the children kept themselves occupied indoors while the rain pelted down.
About lunch time the weather cleared up and it got beautiful. Bright blue skies, and just in time for some friends that decided to visit us.
During the morning’s rainstorm, Cassidy and I took the opportunity to learn a new game: Milles Bourne. It was great fun and when our friends arrived, Cassidy taught their children also. It has been a lot of fun learning new games this summer. There is more time to play games while camping than there is when you are at home and feeling the need to do all your ‘work’. I love that!
My boy Briton, who doesn’t eat enough to keep a fly alive, decided he liked the look of what our friends were having for dinner. He perched himself on their table and as “Fisher”, as he calls her, cut up her dinner he would happily share the pieces she gave to him. When I came to ask him if he wanted more of *our* dinner, he said, “No yucky dinna. Yummy heah.” He preferred her dinner to my tasty burritos! Too funny. Thankfully, she was happy to share with him.
The children all brought their bikes and Briton and
When Raine was given her bike it was given to her with training wheels. I mean, after all, she was four years old, right? Then this spring we took the training wheels off and on her first time riding it she took off. No effort. Simply got on and rode. I was impressed! Cooper did much the same thing when he was four years old, but the rest had taken ages to learn. Colt was one that insisted on having one training wheel before he was willing to remove the last feeling of safety! *grin*
So this day I gave Savannah Raine’s bike and told her to go to it. Do what she could. I watched her for a while, and she had it all together. The only thing she didn’t have was gathering enough strength in her leg to get the bike going and keep it going. So that was when I decided to get involved. I gave her instructions, balanced her, and then gave her a push. A few wobbly rides and she was off. No problem. Another born athlete, or at least born bike rider! No training wheels. From trike to bike when she has her upcoming birthday!
Of course, she had to be the one to have her first bike owie. Crash
Cooper came up with some new fun: riding down from the campsite, through the sand and into the water. Great fun!
The boys have enjoyed finding golf balls in the lake and diving to retrieve them. One day I saw
“I’m going to dive for it.”
Okay, that makes sense! Why stick to golf balls when you can have more interesting things to retrieve!
During our evenings, after the little ones were in bed we would watch a dvd from the old Daniel Boone seasons. The boys are really enjoying it and it is a fantastic boys type movie! We were discussing making the boys some buckskin jackets and coon skin hats, so they can play at Daniel Boone. I would prefer that kind of play to army play any day!
Usually I don’t give the kids chips to eat while we are watching the show, but last night I did. Silly mistake! When we came out here we forgot the speakers to hook up to my laptop, so we are struggling to hear from the tiny internal speakers on my computer! If you breathe you might miss what is said!
And can you imagine, we brought the Little House on the Prairie Season 6 season finale with us and we had to listen to the big Does He Does Me movie between Laura and Almanzo in whispers!!! We will definitely have to rewatch that episode!
So last night, it was so hilarious because the kids all had bowls of chips and were sitting on each side of me. They didn’t eat their chips while the people were speaking and the moment the scene changed or it showed distance land or something, I could suddenly hear a bunch of movies chomping and crunching down on chips, and then in simultaneously they would all stop on a dime when they recognized someone was about to open their mouths to speak. It was so funny! I will remember my speakers next time I go out! *grin*
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