The Camping List: My Camping Essentials

My Mom, my son and I recently completed our annual mother-daughter-grandson camping trip to Waskesiu and after forgetting a couple of essentials behind, I thought it would be a good idea to make up a list of camping gear that needs to be packed for our future trips. The following are a few of my favourite items that I brought along (and a couple that I forgot).

I wanted a cooler small enough to be able to fit in the trunk of my car without taking too much space away from all the other things that you need for a camping trip, but large enough to fit all of the food that we were taking with us. We didn't need much for the length of our trip, but, for the amount that we ended up packing, we were quite surprised that there was a lot of space left for more! This cooler has thin walls that helps it have more space, but it still keeps food items cold.

I had been looking for a new flashlight that could give off a lot more light than the lanterns and flashlights we had been using in the past for a while, when I found this one on sale. I was excited that it has an incredibly strong beam of light...I was disappointed that I left it behind on this camping trip.

My parents purchased a set of portable cutlery for both my son and I this past Christmas. Not only is each piece solid, but they are also fantastic quality...and I like that they have a pouch to store them in.

The sleeping bag that I use is from my childhood, but I feel like this one is pretty close to the same, and probably has better technologies for keeping you warm.

Normally I have to put a blanket in my sleeping bag to add some extra warmth, but to save some space in the trunk this time I brought along my Sugoi fleece-lined leggings to be able to sleep in. They are my new favourite thing for camping and I will be bringing them on all trips for forever. I even loved them in the cool morning while having some breakfast by the fire.

Like my sleeping bag, my hikers (winter boots, in fact) are from my childhood, but these ones look very similar and make me want to upgrade. I like having hikers on my camping trips because we enjoy going on hikes, and I noticed a huge difference after wearing them on a hike where I had to piggy-back my son through a muddy zone. It was a much better situation than if I had been wearing my sandals. I'm also less likely to hurt myself on roots, and have a lot more control when going down hills.

Not included in the detailed area (as you can find them most anywhere), but still essential to bring along are marshmallows, waterproof matches, a bbq lighter (a back up form of getting fire when the matches don't cut it), extendable fork (for roasting the marshmallows), and my favourite cookies for making s'mores (the chocolate is built in and tastes incredibly delicious).

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Christmas Bird Count 2018

Each year around Christmas, something called the Christmas Bird Count is held in different areas around the Western Hemisphere. The information collected by what are called Citizen Scientists (that's you and me!) is used by conservation biologists and naturalists to assess the population trends and distribution of birds on a daily basis.

This year was the first time that our family attended at our location in the Beaver Creek Conservation Area, and we found it absolutely fascinating. The program was run by some local birders with good knowledge about the different species of birds in our area. And, as you can see in the first photo, we even had the opportunity to get Chickadees to eat seeds from the palms of our hands (...mittens). I feel very fortunate to have even snapped some photos of them because they are incredibly fast.

We will have another opportunity to see (and hopefully feed) some more Chickadees at a Chickadee Pishing event at the beginning of February. Both events are a great opportunity to get outside in the fresh air, and explore nature in the winter.

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Waskesiu 2018: Treebeard Trail

We took our annual trip to Waskesiu at the end of July this year, and, while we were there, we did things a little differently than we had in the past. One of the differences was a hike on a trail that we had never been on before, and I'm pretty sure that it is now our favourite. Well off the beaten path (you have to take a dirt road around the lake), it doesn't seem like it is a trail that is walked on very often, which makes it all the more amazing. 

We grabbed a pamphlet at the beginning of the walk, and I read as we reached each marker along the hike. We learned about the importance of forest fires and how it gives birth to a new part of the forest. The decomposition, the flowering, the seeds released during the fire, everything has a purpose. The pamphlet was quite fascinating, really, as it talked a lot about trees; the animals that live in them or near them and how they (trees and animals) help each other; the purpose of underground springs; how each bird has a specific, unspoken contract, for a niche in a tree. I could go on, it really was very informative.

While we didn't spot any large wildlife (thankfully) on the trek, we did see a lot of different kinds of mushrooms and mosses, as well as trees and plants in different states of growth and decomposition (queue the pamphlet learning), and developed even more of an appreciation for the world that we live in, and the efforts to keep it safe and healthy.

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Waskesiu Day Trip 2017: The Hike

We went on a hike through the forest of Prince Albert National Park on a trail called Boundary Bog -- read more about our day trip here. It was a longer hike for my son, but he prevailed and we were rewarded with a lovely view of the eye of the bog.

I am always humbled by a hike in the Boreal forest. I love the feeling of walking among the trees that have stretched as high as they could towards the sun, and, as you can see, I am a big fan of taking photos of fungi -- including my son. The things that grow, are capable of growing, and the things that happen in the forest are absolutely fascinating. You could almost say it's magical, and it's transformational for the spirit as well.

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Growing In The Garden: 2015 Fruits and Vegetables

I enjoy growing a garden of vegetables. It takes me back to my younger years when my parents had a garden that took up half of our yard, and my sister and I were given a small patch to grow our own fruits and vegetables. This year I added some vegetables to our garden, and have done a much better job of weeding. It's always exciting to see how things grow if you take care of them properly -- and pick them when they are ready so that more can grow!

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Across the Ferry

My son and I went on quite the adventure this past weekend when we took our dog to get a haircut. The groomer moved to a new home outside of the city and we ended up having to take a ferry across the river to get there. Little Boy enjoyed it at lot and kept asking to go on it again. We ended up taking the ferry a total of four times -- two for drop-off, and two for pick-up.

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Thanksgiving 2014: What I Am Thankful For

As Thanksgiving here in Canada quickly approaches, and we all look forward to a long weekend, I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. Besides the typical things that I am thankful for, like a job, a roof over my head, and my family, I wanted to dig deeper into the box and figure out something else that I am thankful for.

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 Everything in my life revolves around my family, and I realised what I am thankful for this year is actually spending time with my family. Time is flying by as my son is already approaching four years of age, and I really want to spend as much time with him and my husband that I can. There are so many precious moments that I have shared with them, and I really want to continue fostering that. The fact that I am able to do that is something that I am really thankful for.

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An Autumn Walk By The River

 

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Autumn: The Corn Maze

This month I wanted to plan a fun activity for our family that we had never done before, so I did a bit of research and found a corn maze nearby that had a petting zoo -- which was basically farm animals that wandered around the property -- and other little attractions like a bouncy castle. 

There were two mazes to choose from -- one that was six-acres and the other that was two-acres -- and we decided to go with the smaller one. It was fun trying to answer the true and false questions that would point us in the right -- or wrong -- direction. We ended up making a few big circles around before finding our way, but we were pretty glad that we got lost in the smaller of the two mazes.

As soon as I saw people entering the maze it reminded me of Field of Dreams and I whispered "If you build it, he will come" throughout our entire time in the maze. I also thought I saw some aliens from Signs, and I know for certain that I would never want to be going through the maze in the dark. My imagination would go wild.

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Putting It All Together: Our Mom's 60th Birthday Party

On each table we had a small vase with a floral arrangement in it. We picked out the flowers at a local floral shop -- which smelled absolutely amazing -- and grabbed some greens and leaves as well. The green flower hiding behind the big white one is actually a carnation that we picked out in celebration of our Mom's birth month.  

Also, as part of the centrepieces, I had my mom pick out a couple of photographs from each decade that she has been alive, and then I had her dictate to me what was happening in each photograph. I typed each little story up and placed them next to the corresponding photos. A lot of people said it sounded exactly like she was talking to them herself.

On the party invitations I requested that guests bring along a favourite desert to share at the party. Along with all of the deserts on the table, we placed a large vase with sticks and pussy-willows where guests could hang a small paper circle that they had written birthday wishes on for our Mom.

These days, it wouldn't be a proper party without a photo booth with some fun props. I got a lot of inspiration for the photo booth decorations from Pinterest, including a tutorial for making the paper fans.

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Adventures in Potty Training

Potty training your child is hard.

Potty training the Little Boy has been one of the hardest things that we have had to deal with as parents. Give me a tantrum any time and I can take care of it head-on, but potty training is one of the most frustrating things because it is one of the things that you have least control over. You can pay attention to the signs, but unless your little one sits on that toilet there are going to be lots of wet pairs of pants being tossed in the laundry hamper every single day.

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I approached the subject of potty training with my son's teachers at school during the summer of 2013. They encouraged him to sit on the toilet along with the other kids, and he would pee on the toilet, but it was never really consistent enough -- he was just over the age of 2 at this point. They told me that I could give it a try, if I liked. One night I decided to put him in underwear and see what he would do. He peed 4 times in the span of 15 minutes, and I quickly put him back in a diaper. He was not ready.

Just before Christmas 2013, I approached his new teachers -- as he had moved out of the toddler-age room to the younger preschool room in October -- and asked them how they thought he would do. He was consistently sitting on the toilet and going to the bathroom for them every day, but at home he was reluctant to sit for us and would usually only pee in the evening just before we got him ready for bed.

My husband and I talked about it and we thought it was time to push our son to wear underwear and use the toilet on a daily basis. I saw it more as a push for us than for him. While his teachers at school were very good about keeping a schedule for using the bathroom, we did not do so well at home and I thought that we would do a better job in helping him learn how to use the toilet if we no longer had the safety of the diaper ourselves.

We took the plunge again just after Christmas Day, and it started off quite well -- although he was very reluctant to give up wearing his diaper. We ended up having to go to the doctor to get him checked-out for an earache, and it was also where we had our first accident. After we were done at the doctor's office, we headed over to my mom's house to visit with my grandma one last time before she went home -- and we had our second accident. We had a total of 4 accidents that day. Which is not awful at all considering it was his first day of wearing underwear, but we were still having trouble with getting him to sit on the toilet and pee.

A lot of times at work if a child is struggling with wanting to go to the bathroom, we will make a potty chart and provide stickers for them to stick on the chart after they use the toilet as a way to encourage them and make the experience more exciting. I mentioned that approach to my husband, and we decided to print off a chart and purchase some stickers -- we went with Cars stickers. The Little Boy responded really well to the sticker chart, and he would even try to go pee again after getting a sticker just so he could get another sticker. We used the chart until he didn't even mention getting a sticker anymore, and only put a sticker on when he remembers it. The sticker chart worked perfectly for us.

The next step was the elusive #2. It took a lot of coaching, but we finally completed our mission this past Saturday, and it has been smooth sailing ever since.  I am so grateful that he finally took this step.

I know that we are not out of the woods yet. The road to being fully potty trained is a long one, and there can be any time in the next couple years where he might regress and start having a lot of accidents. We're still at the point where we need to remind him about going to the bathroom, especially when he's playing and having a good time. But we encourage him and let him know that his toys will still be there when he gets back, or we tell him that we can pause his movie and go for a quick bathroom break.

Potty training your child is hard.

Breaking our son of the habit of using his portable toilet is probably one of the most difficult habits that we will ever have to help him get through -- God willing -- but with a little persistence, some ingenuity and a lot of patience, we will soon be Potty Masters!

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