So... what did I miss? I unplugged for a few days, went camping with the kids. It was just what I needed.
The Ford Fiesta I planned to drive to The Pinery was suddenly unavailable, but the good folks at Ford let me keep the Taurus SHO an extra week. It's a big car, which was perfect for a load of camping gear and campers. I'm not sure the little Fiesta would have been able to hold us all.
We're "park once" campers. That means we park once at our site, and we don't drive the car again until it's time to go home. Anything we want to do during our visit must be reachable by foot. I've camped with this rule all my life and it's part of the fun.
A typical day includes:
- the kids waking up way too early because some bird made a racket at 6am
- me ordering them out of the tent to figure out life while I try to sleep until 9am
- a trip to the facilities for toiletry duties - I'm happy if the teeth get brushed
- a leisurely breakfast - Rice Krispies will do, I get 3 days of cold milk out of one cooler load
- a little catch - football or baseball, we alternate
- a hike on one of the many trails - often the walk to the trail is far longer than the trail itself
- sand dunes, anyone? the best hikes at The Pinery are the unofficial trails over the sand dunes
- lunch time - ham sandwiches, grapes and Doritos did the trick yesterday
- more catch - long ball catch with your kid is the absolutely best thing in the world
- beach time - The Pinery has the best beaches
- more sand dunes because the kids can't get enough of them
- hike time!
- spark up the bbq, it's time for hot dogs, even though daddy forgot the ketchup
- cards, reading, colouring
- campfire time - marshmallow roasts rule
- a little crank radio fun in the tent and....
- zzzzzzzzzzz
I could get used to that. Here are a couple of videos of the kids at the aforementioned sand dunes. You can see the beach in the background.
And here are a few pics culled from the photoset.
It really was just what I needed.
