Canada Day camping weekend

Camping over Canada Day weekend was a whole new experience for Austin – and to a certain extend for mommy as well, who had never really done anything like this before.

The three and a half day trip was at Arrowhead Provincial Park – about three hours north of Toronto (near Huntsville) – and was spent with three other families. In total we were 8 adults and 5 kids between the ages of 13 months and 7 years.

To sum it up, the trip consisted of sleepless nights (because the youngest member of the family takes up the most amount of bed space), cold days (because I doubt the temperature peaked above 20C all weekend), even colder nights (because it was a whopping 7C or 8C overnight), a lot of dirt, fantastic food (who says camping means only hot dogs and hamburgers?) and good company.

And we did have fun, even if Austin had trouble sleeping in his crib and ended up sleeping between us each night. For the record though, at least one of the nights, he woke up screaming because he was cold – and it was freezing that night. And even though it was too cold to go swimming and we all became experts at huddling under the shade tent for rain protection every time a shower passed through, we all really enjoyed ourselves. I think Austin especially loved being outside for pretty much three days straight. And by the end of it -- he was, shall we say, just a little bit dirty!

On the Sunday, Ryan and I strapped Austin to one of our backs and went for a hike to Stubbs Falls. It was a pretty easy trail for a total of about 4-5 km of walking, which is a good thing, because even though we bought a good carry pack, it’s still heavy to carry 27-pounds of Austin around on your back!

The rest of the time was spent doing pretty much nothing except watch Austin, Lilo, Isabelle, Andrew and Ian play on the campsites. And once the kids went to bed, the adults spent the evening by the fire.

Enjoy the pictures. There were some group shots taken, but they’re not on my camera – when I get them e-mailed to me, I’ll share them as well.

Coming back from the hike

Testing the water temperature in Stubbs Falls

Austin loved pulling this little wagon all over the campsites, so much so that he even tried to pull it when Isabelle was sitting in it.

Three of the kids (Austin, Ian and Lilo) hiding from the rain and watching the Backyardigans on the portable DVD player.