End of Summer Camping with bacpacboy

It's hard to believe that there's only a few days left of Jonas's summer vacation. The one big lingering item on his To Do List was an overnight camp with just him and his mom. His camping career has been on a bit of pause the past couple of summers because of his new little sister. We've always made it a priority to carve out one-on-one time, and hiking and camping are our favourite ways to do that, but having a new baby in the family has taken some adjusting by all of us. Nonetheless, it was our goal to sleep out together before the end of the summer. It came down to the wire but we did it.

The bacpacboy and I spent a couple of days at Darlington Provincial Park, just before the long weekend arrived. The weather forecast predicted that Thursday and Friday morning would be our best chance. We always have our camping bags packed, so we double checked them, added a bunch of extra food and cooking gear, threw in a couple of extra water bottles, and we were ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful trip. We went hiking and frog hunting, practiced our firecraft and camp cooking, he made some new friends, and we had an awesome time snuggling up and reading "The Hobbit" by the glow of the campfire as the bats flew by. I'm so glad we went.

Here's a little slide show:

 

"It is one of the blessings of wilderness life that it shows us
how few things we need in order to be perfectly happy."
— Horace Kephart

 

"We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.
We get it rough enough at home, in towns and cities."
–NESSMUK (G.W. Sears), Woodcraft, 1963

Super kudos to bacpacdad for staying home with the bacpacbaby while we went off and played!
Cheers!

A Day at the River with the Kiddos

I've had a few questions lately, by non-Facebookers, about what we've been up to this summer and why I haven't been blogging. Rather than resort to the obvious, "I've got a baby and a boy on summer vacation" response, I thought I'd show you.

Steven woke up with a headache yesterday, so the kiddos and I headed out to the local creek for a day of fun in the sun and water. It was awesome. Jonas had a blast playing in the creek, and at the park, and even made a few new friends. Abby spent most of the day babbling while trying to walk, and even had a couple of short naps. I sat watching and joining in the fun, thinking the entire time that life is good!

A quick peak at our day:

bacpacboy playing in the river:

We're into the final week of Jonas's summer vacation and we're trying to make the most of it with lots of outdoor together time. His summer To Do List isn't complete yet, but with a little cooperation from Mother Nature, we might be able to squeeze them all in. Cross your fingers and I'll see you again in September.

Cheers!

Checking In

This is Jacqui, checking in. No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or succumbed to post-partum depression. A baby who's trying her darnedest to walk and never sleep, and a ten year old who never seems to stop even when he's asleep, sure do keep a mom busy. Life threw us a little curve when Steven lost his job in April, but we've been trying to make the most of our time together before Jonas goes back to school in September.

While Steven has been job hunting, the kids and I have been trying to get out of the house every day and enjoy the summer. It's been a busy one, with lots of hiking, picnics, swimming, rolling and general summer fun. (Jonas even got his first hockey concussion when he took a stick in the mouth while playing road hockey.) Though we missed a couple of Scout camps that we were really looking forward to, and Jonas, Tasha and Jake are still trying to organize their "no parents allowed" camp, Jonas and I did get a couple of overnighters in as well, with another hopefully coming after we get back from the cottage.

I've turned into the paparazzi, and taken a thousand pictures of our adventures. I'm trying my hand at a little videography too. Here's a link to my youtube channel if you're interested in seeing what we're up to in a little more vivid way:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT9fpZEy5XSWkYy7sgz-mSA/videos


We're off tomorrow morning for a few days at a cottage my Mother and Father in Law have rented near Sandbanks Provincial Park. I think Jonas is having a good summer with our adventures, and going to summer day camp, but he's still got a pretty long list of things he wants to do so I think it'll be a frantic finish for the last couple of weeks of summer before school starts.

Whatever you're up to, I hope you're having fun!

Cheers!

We Interrupt This Life...

It's been a long time since I last blogged. Life has thrown me a little curve ball, in the form of a dental nightmare. I had some issues arise while I was pregnant, that needed to wait until Abby was here and weaned to address. I've been in the chair four times in the past two weeks, and I go again tomorrow for two i.v. sedated extractions. Hopefully, that will put the worst of it behind. My life has come to an almost complete standstill the past week and a bit. The upside, if there is one, is that the pain has actually overridden my fear of the dentist.

Cheers!

Life Update

Wow! Time is flying by!

Abby is almost three months old, and in some ways, it feels like one really long day. A lot has happened in three months though. She's changing every day. Smiling, cooing, controlling her reflexes, finding her hands, holding up her head and torso, rolling over, sitting up, comforting herself... babies sure have a lot to learn in their first few months!

Jonas is a going concern too. Homework and school projects, learning to use his new laptop, getting back into Cub Scouts, getting back outside with the kids in the neighbourhood, learning to better manage his ADHD, occupational therapy... Only a few months left of Grade Four and he's trying to finish strong. Plans are starting to form for summer vacation too.

Tasha's making plans of her own for the coming months. Shifting to working in the garden centre always seems to perk her up, and she's currently apartment hunting with a friend for something a little bigger. It's not easy being on your own, as she's finding out, but we're really proud of how well she's hanging in there.

Steve, and the rest of us, are adjusting to another big life change: he lost his job last week. Thankfully he got a severance package, so we're not in crisis mode yet. He's got some time to decompress, refocus and find something new. In some ways, it's a blessing. The timing is oddly perfect. It gives him more time with kiddos during this important time in their lives, and since the school year is almost over, he has more geographic options when job searching. We're trying to think of it as a chance for a new beginning. Of course, he's been home for two weeks now and the home improvement projects, as well as their subsequent frustrations, are multiplying, so keep your fingers crossed for us. ;)

As for me, other than a slight fear of impending construction nightmares, I'm a tired but happy mama. The Spring sun, and the possibility of getting outside for some fresh air and exercise doesn't hurt morale. The now looming date on the calendar (when Steve's severance runs out) is, admittedly, a little stressful, but I'm an optimist at heart. Steve's a good guy and a good worker. He'll find another job soon, and we've been working hard to chip away at our debt, so I have faith that everything will work out just fine.

What is it they say - "The universe never gives us more than we can handle"?

Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday: Family Photos

A special thank you today, to my Sister-in_law, Anne for these amazing family pictures.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!