Camping with Friends

We spent the Labour Day weekend camping with friends at a free forestry campsite 40 km up the lake from our home.it was an ideal campsite, small with just six sites but situated beautifully. The lake was nice and shallow for swimming in the fisherman caught lots of fish-mostly nice sized troutbut also a small lake char. Not to mention the company, which was very pleasant-the kids got along great and played nonstop.

This was our last camping trip before heading off on our adventure in October and it only reinforced our decision and heightened our excitement about the upcoming winter.we didn't forget anything too crucialand the trailer functioned well for our family-though both the husband and I CAN NOT WAIT to have the lifts installed. On that front, after returning from camping we got word that all has been approved so now we just wait for an install date.

I took a lot of photos (laughed at myself when I caught myself thinking "I should take a photo for the blog") so I'll post a few of those now, as I must rush off to get ready for the second day of teaching my two daughters here at home. The first day went really well, and hopefully I will get a post up about the first week over this next weekend.

little monkey 

our friends daughter on the path to the beach-directly from our campsite!

sand toys and rocks?why not?

the only problem with catching lots of fish...

is gutting them all

waiting for the fisherman to come back. 

inspecting her big sisters catch

all eight! Of them

not squeamish, but by the last day she didn't want to fish if she'd have to gut them...

our dog loves to swim... Wonder how he'll do with the ocean?

it was such a fabulous beach for swimming... Shallow for ages, and sandy.

it's always nice when the people you camp with have toys! Off for a quad ride

the scenery was just fabulous, when the lake is like this it reminds me of molten silver

just a precursor to the fabulous sunset to come...

we were treated to a beautiful sunset one night

we live in such a beautiful country, it will be hard to leave but good to know that we will always come back.

Here Goes Nothing... Or Everything!

Well, here I am, writing my first blog post about the adventure on which we are about to embark. We being myself, my husband and our two children Lacey and Amy (pseudonyms) and the adventure being escaping the cold, dark and snowy winter of 54° north in a 32 foot travel trailer. In reality, the winters aren't that bad if you get out and enjoy them-our daughters have enjoyed sliding, skiing, skating and much more but I have difficulty enjoying them because I must use a wheelchair (as a result of a MVA years ago) and wheelchairs and snow don't mix very well! My husband, being from a warmer climate originally, just can't see the appeal of getting cold, wet and tired while digging out a snowmobile and clearing the sidewalks or being stressed and limited by poor winter driving conditions. He has also suffered from allergies and asthma ever since we moved to this area years ago and we're hoping that leaving for six months a year will alleviate his suffering.

My Girls and I, along with our dog Z on our first camping trip.

Hubby on the same trip.

The Trailer in which we will be traveling and living.

I already school the girls through distance learning (grade 5 and kindergarten) so this adventure will just be a huge educational opportunity for them. We will spend this winter on the Oregon coast and hope to make a different region of the United States our home base each winter. We will make our home at one location and explore the surrounding area and States from there. As Canadians, we can spend a little less than six months in the United States each year without penalty, so we will be there from late October until late April each year (hopefully leaving before the snow flies and coming home after it has melted).