From English Lakes to Canadian Rockies

Well after a busy week with the end of school activities for Lewis and getting the pop up trailer ready for camping, Thursday dawned clear and bright. In the morning I bustled around packing last minute things and cleaning the house whilst entertaining Holly and her friend who I look after one or two day’s a week.

11.45 came all too quick and it was time to go to school, it’s not often I drive but  I felt like I needed to today. Got to school and had my last chat with all the parents, we have all been such a good group of friends that i wish the classes did not get mixed up each year. I have never seen my ds so sad to leave school he usually loves going but is just as happy to come home, today he insisted on staying behind to say good bye and giving hugs to his teacher. We truely have felt blessed to have this teacher for our child.

Well by 5pm the extra kids were gone so it was time for my least favourite job backing the car up to the trailer :(, Ok it was not too bad this time, I am sure if we had to reverse on the flat it would be easier but ours has a steep uphill to do.   Got to the campsite thinking that because we had arrived on Thurs evening there would be plenty of pitches how wrong we were, the site we go to, our favoutite has a first come first served rule, the sign said campsite full. Oh no!!!!!

We drove round loop c just in case no luck, dh said what shall we do panicking i said let’s try loop b our usual loop it was not looking good then we saw it an empty pitch yippee :) 

Un hooked the trailer then dh did a quick drive round just in case there were any other better pitches to be had, no we had the last one on the whole campsite hurray.

Set up quickly as it was late almost 8pm and we had not eaten our tea yet, fortunatly  it takes less than 20 mins to set up including leveling the pup. Then dh cooked some brats on the bbq outside whilst i made beds and put clothes away in the hanging closet.

Next oh dear was no pull ups dd is not 100% dry yet so i decide to set the alarm and get her up every 4 hours to pee, we are next to a pit toilet so no need to sort our toilet out.

Friday we  did a few geocaches and had a big walk round a lake where by we let the kids build a wind shelter with driftwood which was good fun then we had our picnic and a very friendly chip monk came to visit us. I have never seen a wild  animal so tame, we did not feed him figuring that if he scavenged our crumbs after then that was natural He must have stayed with us for a good half an hour moving from rock to rock in front of us and chattering to us, it almost seemed like he was having a conversation with us lol, he would pop back in his little hole  when another group of walkers came by but as soon as they had gone he popped straight back up. Even when we gave Islay (our Labrador) a drink and snack he was fine it was only when Islay got some energy back and noticed the Chip monk (who we called Alvin) that he popped back into his hole and did not come back but that was fine we had stayed longer than we intended just watching our little friend.

On our way back to our camp we stopped for an ice cream float at the next camp site on to ours both share a little store and the ice creams are yummy.

That evening we went to watch the show our campsite runs an ampitheatre with shows over the week end. We love going and as they are free although they put donation boxes out at the end. What we do is only donate on our last night not that we are ‘tight’, but that we would rather put a note in on the last show than a few coins each night.

Sataurday, we went to Kananaskis village to see what that was all about, well it’s tiny but very pretty and of course we had to have an ice cream.  Did some geo caches which the kids really love although at one point the kids and dh left me in the car to nap whilst they did a cache, I am so not used to getting up in the night anymore

The evening show was all about aquatic bugs, I love the fact the shows are entertaining as well as informative, they usually have people from the audience to do parts although it depends on what they need and if you get there early enough to get choosen.Last year the biggest job any of us had was to hold the clicker to count how many people came to the show. This time they asked Holly if she would like a part (why oh why did we leave the camera behind), so Holly became a little mayfly larvae complete with black costume. She had to go on stage when they called for the mayfly and do some moves they had taught her to show how the mayfly move she looked so cute and had a big beaming smile on her face. All the evening she kept asking if we were proud of her aww.

Next day was spent doing a couple of walks that were started from our campsite and at one stage we did a walk around a small lake, Islay has now decided she likes water, we had thought we have the only lab who does not like water but she seems better maybe it was an age thing and she was too young last year?? I think the only time we used the car that day was to drive to the next campsite for an ice cream fix.

That evening we went to the show again this time all about mountain goats, and sheep. Guess were the camera was yep back at the trailer guess what we have another actor in the family, this time the parts were for adults only. Nope not me dh looked beautiful in his wooly coat as a mountain goat. I had wondered why he kept reading his lines but he really got into his role jumping all over the stage he was so funny, who knows maybe a career change lol

Monday was home time and apart from the fact we got home and unpacked about 5 mins before a thunder storm it was uneventful. So i guess that’s it for now.

Posted by tina0109 ( 2 Comments )