Thursday, August 12, 2010

lotsa camping, part 3 of 5

We took a break from camping for the long weekend and we stayed in Vancouver for Canada Day. It's ironic, since most people go away on the long weekends! Well, we decided we would make our own long weekends to go away in the summer because the established long weekends are WAY too busy and too stressful to be travelling.

So, the following weekend in July, we were invited up to the "cabin" of our friends, Robbin and Dal, at Harrison Hot Springs. I say "cabin" because it's easier to describe that way, but actually, they bought a plot in an RV Park near Harrison Hot Springs. It came complete with a trailer and all the amenities (full hook-ups!) all set up. All they had to do was move in!

This was the start of the hot weather in the Lower Mainland and this particular weekend was the first hot weekend of the summer. It took forever for summer to come, but when it did, it came with a vengeance!

Robbin warned us ahead of time that visitors camping at the RV Park didn't have hook-ups. The visitors area is just an open area beside the playground. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal with no hook-ups because we already did Cultus Lake. But this was a little different.

When I pictured us setting up our trailer beside the playground, I hadn't exactly envisioned us IN the playground. When we walked out of our trailer, we were literally 10 steps from the playground! It worked out well because we could keep an eye on Josh and Aves pre-occupied in the playground while we did stuff like setting up and preparing meals. But I definitely felt like we shouldn't really be parked there!

Also, being our first hot weather weekend of camping, the kids had a bit of trouble at bedtime and naptime. The trailer has A/C, but when there are no electrical hook-ups, you can't power the A/C. We tried to use our portable generator to start it up, but it wasn't powerful enough. So, at bedtime, we managed to cool down the trailer enough with opened windows, but at naptime, we headed to Dal and Robbin's A/C'ed trailer!

Other than that, it was a good weekend visiting with friends! The Garin's, Elijah and Charlotte came up on Saturday and spent the day. After Elijah puked in their car on the way up that morning, we thought we might be in for a rough day. But, he seemed to get it all out of his system (and onto the car!) with that one incident and he was feeling much better pretty soon after arriving.


Dal and Robbin have a nice set-up and we spent most of the time hanging out at their trailer. The RV Park had a pool too, so the kids went for a dip to cool off before dinner. We had a great time catching up with friends! Thanks to Robbin and Dal for inviting us all up and sharing your A/C!!

Before heading home on Sunday, we decided that since we drove out to Harrision, we should at least go to the lake once. We spent an hour or so at Harrison Lake, in the shallow, enclosed part. Josh loves to play at the beach. As it is for most kids, sand and water can entertain Josh for hours.

Aves doesn't really know what to make of the beach yet. She kind of liked the water, but she never ventured far, likely because of the cool temperature. She kind of liked the beach, but it was a little unstable for her newly walking legs, so she got frustrated easily.

All in all, though, I think the kids enjoyed the trip despite the heat. And you know that it all works out in the end when your kids sleep the entire ride home, even through the sani-dump process!

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