This years camping trip was taken this past weekend - and we headed to The Pinery in Canada. I've heard lots of great reviews of the campground, and the kids loved camping last year, so on Thursday, we packed up and headed out.
Here's a photo bomb review of our trip:
Thursday: We arrived at camp around 3:30pm. Unfortunately, it being a holiday, it took us 4 hours instead of the 2 hours it should've taken because of heavy Blue Water Bridge Traffic. Shortly after we got there and set up camp, Nicole and I went to nearby Grand Bend and picked up a few groceries and got some firewood. Little did we know that in Canada, buying firewood is a "self-serve" deal. I wish I could have taken the picture of our faces when the guy told us "Here are the bags, there is the wood - whatever you can fit in the bags is yours. Oh, and there is the dolly to take it to your car". Um, for real? Yup, for real - time to pack up 7 bags of wood!
Once we got back to the campsite, we had a quick dinner before setting off to the beach. The beach was just beautiful and the boys loved climbing some small dunes to cross over to get to the beach.
And no surprise - they LOVED the water!
Beautiful night and surprisingly there was no one else was at the beach!
The boys fell asleep quickly (no surprise after only having a very short nap in the car on our way), so it was time to relax with a campfire and have some s'mores! My favorite snack was by far the roasted starbursts. I know, I know, you are probably re-reading that to see if you read it correctly, but yes, they are delicious. Thanks to my sister for finding that recipe online! And knowing that I'm a sugar addict, that is one campfire snack I will not ever forget about!
On to Friday. Unfortunately, we woke up to some rain and from what the park rangers said that we ran into when we went to the bathroom, it was going to be a wet morning. We could only stay in the tent for so long before the boys went stir crazy, so we decided to head back into Grand Bend to see if there was any way to entertain the boys doing something inside. Well, guess what? There isn't. Luckily though, we did find a school library that is open to the public so the boys had some time to play while the rain moved out of the area.
Once back at the campsite, the rain had stopped, but we all know what happens when you mix dirt with 12 hours of continuous rain. Yup, mud. And who found it? Logan. He just loved playing in the dirt.
Looks like Logan wants an annual "face is dirty" camping picture. Remember last years picture? (4th picture from the end of
this post)
Once our lunch was over, it was off to the lake again. More fun in the water!
Logan was Parker's little shadow and once Logan saw Parker throwing some stones in the water, he started to do the same thing - over, and over, and over...
Back at the campsite, we had some dinner and then had a little "quiet" time before bed. Luckily my iPad had a little charge to it still, so we checked out some things on there and read a few stories before the boys went to bed.
Saturday we woke up and the weather was just beautiful. We decided to spend a majority of the day at the beach, so we packed up our stuff (including lunch) and headed down. The boys have had very limited naps (mainly in the car when going to or coming back from Grand Bend), so I was shocked when Ellis barely finished his lunch and fell asleep right in my lap. It was quite a bit hotter on Saturday, so I think the combination of all the fun, lack of naps on previous days, and playing in the water, zonked this little dude out.
And not too much later, Logan laid down all on his own right next to Ellis and
they slept for nearly an hour.
For dinner we had hamburgers. The boys were huge eaters during our entire trip so since they ate so much during the day, I wasn't really surprised that they weren't too into dinner. But, Ellis barely got down from eating after saying he was done, and he was quick to come to my plate and start picking at my bun. Of course we don't give them the bun, just a cut up hamburger, but it looks like he was a little upset that he didn't get a bun.
And before I know it, he literally took off my entire top bun and ate the entire thing!
A little random, but I thought this was a funny sign. It was right by the dunes to cross to get to the beach and it said "No Lifeguards. Parents, children are your responsibility." HA - no kidding, really?!? That just cracked me up!
Sunday it was time to pack up and come home. It rained all night, so it made packing up a little challenging since our tent and everything was wet, but we were on the road around 11am, heading home. Thankfully we were home in less than 2 hours and had no major traffic on the bridge this time.
Lots of fun for the weekend and we came home with some very tired little boys. We weren't even out of the park and the boys were both passed out in the car. Quite a successful camping trip and even better that no one brought home the dreaded poison ivy. Note to self - Canadian Parks don't control poison ivy like Michigan State Parks do, so if you are taking small kids with you, be very cautious of them trying to explore without you being right next to them. I have a ton of pictures, so this was just a snapshot of our trip. I'm doing a separate camping scrapbook for this trip, so once I complete that album, I will share more!
It's never too early to think about next years camping trip. If anyone has any great locations, I'd love to hear them!
Last but certainly not least, a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to Val and Derek for watching Bella while we were gone. Although this campground allows dogs, we really didn't want to take Bella because we knew we'd have our hands full with the kids since they are still at that age where they need to be constantly watched. Despite the fact that they had 4th of July plans and had company coming into town for the weekend, they welcomed Bella to their house and she joined in on their fun. She came home exhausted after playing with many other doggie friends over the weekend. We can't thank you enough, guys!
