September 03, 2011

End of the Summer Camping Trip

To end the summer with a bang my family and I decided to go for a little camping trip and we couldn't have picked a better few days. It was absolutely perfect. Between 25-27 degrees celcius, not a cloud in the sky kind of perfect! Just what the doctor ordered.


Paradise. This is what I got to wake up to every morning. 


Campsite. Francis, Kyell (my cousin) and I slept in tents on the other side of the site. 


This is where I feel most like myself. In nature. As much as I love the city, nature is where my heart is. The sounds, the smells, the overall feeling I get when I'm completely immersed in it. It really is indescribable. I will never be a total city girl. I'm definitely more of a country girl and I'm okay with that.


View from the beach. Steps up to our campsite.


My Oma relaxing on the beach. Isn't she cute? It was so nice to be able to spend time together. She means so much to me and we don't get to spend much quality time together so this was very special. 


Dad cooling down with a drink on the beach. Looking a little crisp there pops...might be time to get out of the sun? He likes to burn apparently so he can complain about it to people who didn't get to enjoy the sunshine. What a weirdo.


This is one of the fabulous breakfasts we had on our mini getaway. Micky mouse pancake, egg, plain yogurt topped with the juiciest cantaloupe I have had all summer. Delish.


Boys chowing down. The view was just as amazing, maybe even better than breaky. I said maybe. 


The dock the boys spent 2 days building. It was so much fun to use. I have scrapes and bruises to prove it :)


One of my lunches. Veggie lentil soup, carrots, brown rice crackers and home made hummus (made by moi!). 

I snacked on hummus and veggies the entire trip. So refreshing.



The boys eating their burgers made over the fire. They were very proud of them. Luckily there were plenty of veggie burgers for me to chow down. 


Camping is all about the downtime and doing whatever you want when you want. We played badminton, baseball, football and...I got to do some running. 2 intense 5 k interval runs. 1-2 mins fast pace followed by 1-2 mins of a slower pace to cool down. I mixed some hill sprints in there as well. There was a lot of time for games too! I love board games. So much fun. We played scrabble one night and my mom and I played crib another night. This is a pic of a perfect hand in crib that I dealt my mom. Jeez, I must really love her!


My Oma's dog, Pansy came along too. And she is quite the pansy. I had to pick her up and put her in the water to cool her off. She was too scared to go in on her own. She's such a cutie.


We spent a lot of time swimming and laying on the beach. Here's Kyell mid backflip.


We also went fishing, boating and tubing. Lots of fun. 


This is the only shot I got of our beautiful salmon dinner made over the grill on the fire. We wrapped up fresh sockeye (caught by my parents a couple days earlier) with a sundried tomato pesto on top. Veggies and potatoes in the other package. Delish.


Is it ready yet mom?



For our last supper of the trip my mom decided on a vegetarian spaghetti. Mushrooms, garlic and onion sautéed over the open fire. Celery was added later. So much fun cooking outdoors. Everything smells so much better. Probably because the air is so much cleaner.


Simmering...smelled awesome.


My camping attire. I lived in this for the entire trip. Be jealous ;)


Another angle.


With the veggie ground round added.


Smart pasta, spag sauce, shredded cheese on top.


Raw carrots and mushrooms on the side with some hummus. I always try to get my veggies in as often as possible.


This sauce was seriously unbelievable. We were all raving about it. My mom and I think it was the leftover sundried tomato pesto that we added to it. We will definitely be doing that again. Talk about an awesome discovery.


When the ladies cooked supper, the boys were in charge of the dishes. Here's Francis getting some fresh lake water for the dishes. We rinsed them with boiling water afterwards. 


Dad chatting with his mom (Oma) and resting his full tummy on the beach.


The nights were spent making chocolatey smokes (YUMMY), chatting, playing word games, watching the stars (sooooooo clear and bright at the lake) and....


...playing guitar. My cousin Kyell and my Dad were our entertainment. Kyell is only 16 and he is already an unreal artist. He writes and plays his own music all over town. Coffee shops, special events like Canada Day, benefit concerts...you name it he's there. It's awesome to see. I'm very proud of him and know that he will do wonderful things and will be extremely successful in whatever he chooses to do.

My Dad hasn't played guitar in years so it was great to hear him play some of my favourites. Songs I forgot were my favourites. Songs we used to sing together when I was a kid. Brought back a lot of memories.

As soon as it gets dark we all start to yawn and slowly make our way to bed around 9:30 or 10 pm. It's so cool that when you aren't aware of time and aren't being stimulated by electronics such as TV and computers you feel tired when it gets dark and wake up when the sun comes up. I love that. I also love sleeping in tents. It's so refreshing. A little uncomfortable, but that's all part of the experience ;)


I can't even begin to explain how hard it was for me to leave this place. It's my paradise. A place I go every summer to not only have fun, but to rejuvenate, and refuel for the beginning of the school year. I always shed a little tear. I mean...wouldn't you?


Can you spot the dinosaur?


Kyell swam to the dinosaur and checked out the stumps that are underwater for fishing lures (something fun to do). I actually found 2 or 3 lures. I'm awesome. When you're camping you have to be very creative and put your imagination to good use.


When we got home I made sure I picked some of my favourite things of all time: apples. Not just any apples. The apples from the tree in our front yard. There are my favourite food of. all. time. No joke.


Pretty apples.


We also went to London Drugs to check out some laptops and my mom left with an iPad. She loves it. You're cute!


Before we started to head back to Victoria I had to take a couple pictures of my baby.


Whatta cutie...


Overall, I had a fabulous time camping and spending a few good quality days with my family (I don't mention Francis because I consider him part of the fam :) ). It doesn't happen that often, so when it does I cherish every moment. Well, I'm exhausted so it's time for me to head to bed (that rhymed :O). Hopefully this post makes sense. Sorry if it's scattered. I will leave you with a picture of my parent's house. Well...a little chunk of it anyways.

Have a wonderful Saturday night everybody,

Amy






























































































1 comment:

  1. aww it's so beautiful out there! Your guys' camping food looks delish! :)

    ReplyDelete