This was a dad and daughter (and dog) only weekend. I was a trainer with my friend James' on a Hydro training crew a few years back and have kept in touch with him ever since. You can see pictures of Emma at his daughter Talia's birthday party earlier this month on the previous post. Talia just turned 3 and Emma will be 5 in June. We loaded up the girls, dogs, camper and boat in Lorette where James lives and we headed out on the two hours trek to Big White Shell Lake and campground. We got there late on Friday night and were set up and had time for a fire and marshmallows before it was bedtime for the girls.
In the morning after a fresh coffee for us and cereal for the girls we walked over to the playground near the beach and had a good play and explored the beach area. Then we headed back for a big breakfast and made a plan for the day. The weather reports did not look favorable but we figured we could always change plans when the rain came. We decided to launch the boat and go fishing while the water was calm. The girls loved the boat ride, were excited about using fishing rods and seeing one fish brought to the boat. The depth/fishfinder was a huge hit also. After about an hour and a half they needed a change of scenery so we decided to head in for another snack and maybe go on a hike.
The hike consisted of a short but challenging 1.5km hike up steep terrain to a few lookouts. The trail was wet to start so their rubber boots seemed like a good idea until the rocky climb started. However both girls (and dogs) did amazing and when you ad in the walk to the trail head the girls walked almost 2.5km. The dogs probably did more like 10km with the running back and forth and all over the place.
After the hike we went back to the campsite and had a big supper, games of bocce ball, crocket, swinging on a hammock and coloring. A light rain started just after supper so James and I set up a tarp near the firepit so everyone could still enjoy campfire. After supper we had some smorse and the it was bedtime. Very busy day, both girls slept in till 9am.
We had a quick breakfast Sunday morning and headed out on to the water for some more fishing while the weather was good. I caught one fish, it kept the girls busy looking in the live well for a good half hour, the girls were a little sad the fish didn't have a friend, and we were sad we couldn't catch anymore :). Either way, it was a great morning and it was fun to watch the girls lower the jig and worm, the reel it up, all the while asking us where all the fish were.
So we headed back for lunch and packed up the campsite,boat and camper. Put "Horton Hears a Who" on the DVD player and headed out. Almost one whole kilometer down the road Emma "had to pee" so we had to pull over. Then it was back on the road and the girl slept for 45min. When they woke up I replayed Horton because they missed it and they had more snacks of apple, carrots and water. We got back to Lorette around 5pm and Naomi was there to meet us. We unloaded and had a visit with Talia's mom and little brother, Grady, who is only a few months old. So that was the end of our camping trip, weather was great, girls did very well camping, fishing and hiking. Pictures to follow once I figure out how to link them here.
Click here for link to pics
Later,
Gody
