July Travels # 2

Our last day at Uncle Arran's was full of chaos as two families prepared and packed for a week of camping... but we did manage it - everyone got fed regularly, the car, van, and trailer got packed, and nothing major got left behind.  We left very early in the morning for one last connection meeting back in Toronto, where the kids got to watch Homeward Bound a second time, Mommy got to grocery shop for camping, and Daddy talked contentedly all morning.  After a quick lunch, we set off for camp. We ended up taking a much slower route when the GPS was a fraction too slow to show the correct off ramp, but we still arrived at camp before Uncle Arran!

We had a great week camping at Fair Havens:

numerous campfires

 Our campfires were flurries of rationed marshmallows (they were the first thing we discovered had been left behind so one bag between 8 kids and 4 adults didn't go very far), messing with the fire, cousin fun, and futilely trying to avoid mosquitoes...

adventures in campfire cooking

dish washing

The big worry for Mommy for the week was feeding a camp hungry family, but, although it was a fair bit of work, all meals were successful.  We did end up having to buy one lunch, but that worked well, as we got to eat with another family from our church and get to know them a bit better.
 Jasmin and Katrina enjoyed an afternoon helping prepare and cook one day - but ready to bike off if a friend happened by...

hammok fun

Our hammock was an instant hit.  All the kids wanted to play in it.  Rhymes were made up to go with "rides" that brought adult hearts into throats a few too many times - and after that it was the 3 yr olds' (Aiden and Megan) domain for giggles and fun.  They really got on well together - Aiden would refuse to go to their program unless he could see Megan was going too, was constantly asking where she was, and worried if he could hear her crying!

In the mornings, the kids all had a VBS-like program to go to, and there was chapel for the adults.  In the afternoons, there were different activities put on to join in if you liked. Various sports tournaments, a kids' version of PanAm games, a bike parade, etc.  We didn't get to join in any sports, though we signed up for them, because it rained that day, but we did enjoy other things.  Well, Daddy and the kids did!  Mommy mostly stayed at camp to nap, read, and journal in the hammok...

bike parade beginning

PanAm Games train

Quick before it is all gone!

PanAm Games

For the PanAm games day, the kids were given a sheet of activities to complete within a certain time.  Aiden tried out each activity and then spent most of the time riding the train, so it was a big surprize when on Friday night Aiden was awarded the gold medal for his age group!  Grace won silver, and Jasmin settled for a fantastic dragon face paint instead of attempting to finish everything.

Even two days of rain didn't interrupt our fun that much. Of course, the fun changed from sports competitions and hanging out at the beach to card games and odd usages of pool tables. We started out in Uncle Arran's tent trailer, but the play and number of people was too much and we had to switch to the games room for the afternoon.

remembering how to play Dutch Blitz

this is not pool...but it was captivating!

Tent trailer SkipBo