Saturday, August 4, 2012

Camping success.

I must say, our first foray into camping was quite satisfactory. Despite a few minor hiccups, we had a very enjoyable three days at Whispering Pines Campground, next to Santa's Village. I know my husband's favourite part was when we finally went for a paddle in the canoe. I think the kids enjoyed that part too, even though my daughter said it was "tiring".

The hiccups? We had two too big air mattresses, so I had to go into town, and buy a twin. Upon my return, one of the other, larger air mattresses appeared to be leaking air. It was brand new. I am not really a fan of sleeping on an air mattress. I think they serve a better purpose when my children use them as a trampoline. I kind of felt like I was bouncing while sleeping. Or, sinking as the air leaked out. Note to self, ask for a Dreamtime Thermarest for Christmas... or my birthday, or both, and then I can have two.

Also, I forgot my pillow. There were two little ones in the double sleeping bag, which the children used. I forgot their pillows too (and their blankets!). My husband brought himself a pillow. I tried using my clothes the first night, but that just hurt my neck. I managed to share a small portion of my husband's pillow, but this did not work when my son decided to sleep in between us. The second night, I had half my husband's pillow right off the bat, and fell asleep quite easily. My son, however, stole his spot when Daddy went to get him something to drink, at my request. Daddy ended up with a baby pillow on the twin mattress, only to be woken up later by my irate son, angry Daddy stole his spot.

My daughter sleeps extremely well in tents. My son does not. Maybe he is still too young at three years old. Maybe he will always have issues. It was noisy outside our tent until about 9:30pm. We were beside the playground, and I think some parents were using the philosophy of tiring the kids out so they would instantly fall sleep, instead of trying to get them down before the meltdowns. My son wanted to be outside playing with these kids. We had two difficult evenings of him crawling about the tent in an effort to stall sleeping. It did not matter whether he had napped earlier in the day, or not. Fortunately, fatigue eventually won out, and we did get some long periods of sleep from him.

We had a great time. The kids enjoyed swimming, and shivering, in the refreshing pool. We checked out the waterfalls at the centre of Bracebridge. I found a great spot with a huge park for the kids, and a trail leading us up to the dam. If my children had been a little older, we probably could have walked all the way to downtown Bracebridge, and checked out the shops. Instead, we went back to the park, and had a fun little picnic.

The campground has a nice play structure, and when we were not in the pool, we were watching the kids run around the park. The campground Rec Centre also had lots of toys, games and books for the kids, and nightly activities. We did a family craft the second night, and "dined" with Santa the first night.

I think the hardest part for my daughter was waiting two days before we went to Santa's Village. We were right beside the park, but Mommy and Daddy decided to only visit the park on the last day of our stay. She did very well, and despite asking every hour or so, we still managed to keep her and her brother entertained until the big day arrived.

All in all I would call this trip a succes. We know what we would do differently next time. We have a better idea of the type of gear we would like to have with us. The camping stove, an on sale purchase, with the burner and grill, was a good idea. The electric cooler that does not allow you to put ice in it, not a good idea, especially on an unserviced site. Deflating air mattress, bad idea. So, off we go to Canadian Tire and Walmart to return our duds. Or, maybe this will be our strategy each year. Buy new gear, and return it after the camping trip. Naw, too much work.

http://santasvillage.ca/

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/SleepingBags/SleepingPadsInflating/PRD~5023-667/therm-a-rest-dreamtime-sleeping-pad.jsp


http://www.theheartofmuskoka.com/main4.cfm?id=8EC0106A-1372-5A65-3B8EB5CAE13274DF

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