Back to School

Look at these cute first-day-of-schoolers! Fifth Grade and Second Grade. Crazy. After a fabulous summer full of fun and adventure, we're all ready to get back to some semblance of a routine. And we actually love school. Well, Clara and I do, anyway. Trev will learn to love it.
The biggest, most exciting part of this first day of school is that, after two years of being bounced around the district, I finally get to go back to school with my favorite two kids in the world. My commute is, once again, a four-minute walk. And I get to be teacher and parent in the same community. I'm so happy. Elated.

I've been working my tuckus off getting my classroom ready, and I loved finally meeting my new class. They're awesome. It's going to be an amazing year.

Bye, Sis

It always kind of amazes me that our campsite can look like this:
And then, a mere hour or so later, every last bit of our stuff is tetrissed into our car, and we're hitting the road.
A four-hour drive home can be kind of a good thing, when the end of summer is waiting for you at home.

The Camp Box

Central to all of our camping adventures is THE CAMP BOX, and yet somehow I've neglected to blog about it.
The camp box is a big wooden box with a place for every single camping thing that you might ever need (aside from the big ticket items). It sits gracefully on the edge of the picnic table, and opens at the front, so you can easily grab whatever you need.
But let me start with a little bit of background info:

The original camp box was part of Chad's childhood camping life. His mom built it, and it was indestructible. According to legend, a bear tossed the thing around one night, and the box came out unscathed. Chad and I actually camped with it for a couple of years when we were first married. Most notably, we took it on a month-long camping road trip up the coast, during the summer before Clara was born. To be perfectly honest, we went a few rounds over the thing. It weighed about 4000 pounds empty, and it filled up almost the entire back of the Civic hatchback we were driving back then. The camp box was a nostalgic thing inextricably linked to childhood camping memories for Chad, but for me, well, I thought that a big plastic bin would hold all of our camping knick-knacks just fine.

I also must mention, because I want to be sure that Chad never, EVER, lives this one down, that I suffered horrible food poisoning from eating rancid peanut butter that was in the camp box (apparently left over from Chad's aforementioned childhood camping days, circa 1978), that Chad insisted would be just fine to eat. "Peanut butter is loaded with preservatives. It never goes bad." (Even though I was concerned by the fact that the price tag on the peanut butter said 78¢ or something, and even though we had packed a brand new jar of peanut butter (price: $4.95 or something), and even though I was pregnant. Pregnant! Would you feed quarter-century-old peanut butter to your pregnant wife? I'm just saying.....)

I made it through the Peanut Butter incident without permanent damage, but it left, shall we say, a bad taste in my mouth when it came to the good old camp box, and I was less enamored than ever with the wooden monstrosity after that trip. I think we possibly had some issues with the car overheating on that trip as well, which I'm sure was partly the camp box's fault.

Chad really loved that thing, though, and he got tired of hearing me complain about it, so a few years ago he did some compromise woodworking. He crafted a box with all of the same storage space, but using thinner, lighter plywood. The new box weighs a fraction of what the old one did, and it still holds all of the dishes, dishpans, flashlights, batteries, clothespins, lantern, bug spray, Uno, ponchos, duct tape, matches, etcetera (but no peanut butter or food products of any kind). A place for everything and everything in its place. And, wouldn't you know it, I've actually grown to love the camp box. It really is convenient to have all of your stuff centrally located, easy to find, and quite possibly bear-proof. The camp box is A-O.K with me these days. ***The contents are very disorganized in the above photo, but rest-assured the camp box is usually a tidy place.***

Oh, and speaking of tidy, Clara brings her love of symmetry and organization with her when she comes camping. Check out their tent:
As our trip comes to a close, we're making the most of being away from the distractions of civilization. Mille Bornes is our new (old) favorite card game. Coup Fourré! It will go in the camp box, next to the Uno....
And the last of the marshmallows have been roasted to perfection.....

Another tough day on the lake

The kayak rentals were calling us today. It was scorchy hot, and we had a few hours of gorgeous paddling around a pretty darn quiet lake. P.S. I live in slight fear of dropping the camera as we pass it between kayaks to pose for these silly shots. (I also have moments when I fear I might intentionally fling the camera into the water. One of my many (lovable?) quirks....)

And I'd be remiss if I failed to document the morning rituals of every camping trip. The hot chocolate:
And the junk food cereal:We try to take two camping trips every summer, but I'm thinking we might have to go for three next year. This is niiiice.

Forty-Two!

Chad's birthday has coincided with our camping trips on more than one occasion. And while this might not be the wildest or most glamorous way to spend your birthday, I'd say it easily falls into the "not too shabby" category.Happy Birthday, Hun! That blaze beats candles on a cake any day.....

Back at Lake Siskiyou

Especially since we had a failed camping trip earlier in the summer, we've really been counting the moments until our big trip to Lake Siskiyou. Last year, we tried out a new camping place, and it was wonderful, but we decided to return to our old favorite haunt this year.We can set up our campsite in about 10 minutes flat these days, which leaves more time for stuff like eating campy food.Ah, the lake. The mountain. We've got four days of this view ahead of us.
Being the sugar-control-freak mother that I am, I actually counted out and packed only the number of marshmallows we'd need for four s'mores each night. (And I tucked away a few extras to allow for the odd accidental incineration.) Look at these cute people enjoying the great outdoors (and sugar):Four marshmallows down, twelve to go.Oh, how I love camping.

The Canadian Tooth Fairy

As we got ready for bed in the hotel last night, Clara lost yet another tooth. Thankfully, the Tooth Fairy found us and left behind a couple of loonies. Not enough to buy anything in the airport, but nice nonetheless.... :)

Titanic!

We've got the leaving-Nova-Scotia routine down to a science. Our flight always leaves at some ridiculously early hour, so we drive into Halifax the day before, have dinner with Uncle Kenny and Eric, and then spend the night in a hotel by the airport.

Before we leave for Halifax, we try to squeeze in one last boat ride (No, this isn't the Titanic here...that comes later.):
We do a bit of posing:
Then we hit the road.

Today, though, we had a new pre-dinner destination. We headed to the Maritime Museum to feed Trevi's latest obsession, the Titanic. It was a super cool exhibit, which I remember visiting years ago, before the kids were around. We got to see an actual lounge chair that was on the Titanic.
And we got to test out a reproduction. Clara made herself at home.
Trev was fascinated by the model of the lifeboats.
And, the piece de resistance.....a scale model of the Titanic herself.
Nana treated us to some goodies in the gift shop, and then we were off to Kenny's gourmet kitchen, where, unfortunately, my camera never made it out of my purse.

It was quite an adventurous ride to the airport after dinner. A sudden, torrential downpour flooded the street, and zero visibility forced us to stop in a parking lot for a few minutes, but we made it to the hotel eventually.

Uncle Bryan, the kids and I said goodbye to Nana and Papa, and then hunkered down for the night. Another lovely trip comes to an end...

Post-Luau

One of the awesome things about the luau is that a bunch of people stay overnight. This corner of the province is a bit of a trek for some folks, so they come and make a weekend of it. So, we get a bonus day of frolicking with all of the extra people around. Our morning was mostly dedicated to eating, swimming (30 minutes after the eating, of course), and boat rides a la Steve and Papa.
Eventually, we had to say our goodbyes to the extended family, but the fun continued with more board games and tons of leftovers.Aloha until next year!