Camping photos

Fishing


At our campsite


A boy after his camping father's heart


Silliness


Eli showing beaver marks

We live next to a house that is part of the Tikinagan program. Tikinagan is for native children, run by native people. They help with children who need to be removed from their homes. From what I understand, the house here is only used for children in a transition such as waiting for a foster home. Sometimes the children are flown out from a reserve. There aren’t always people there and it is usually only a child and an adult. My washline is on the other side of the house by a swing set, so I get little glimpses of life there.

The other day I was out at the washline with Eli and Evan. I turned around and there was a little boy sitting on the swing set just watching us. I said, “Hi!” He just looked at me. Then I said, “What’s your name?” He just looked at me. He had a nasty cut by his eye and his hand was in some kind of splint. I said, “It looks like you got an ouchy. What happened?” He just looked at me. When we headed inside I said, “Bye.” And Eli chimed in with, “Bye!” He just looked at us.

This little boy has been here longer than most so we’ve seen him other times. After my one-sided conversation with him the other day, it hit me that he probably didn’t get his injuries from falling off his bike. I hate to think what put that sweet boy in protective custody.

He still hasn’t said anything to me, but I say hello whenever I see him. It seems like sometimes he tries to come out to the swing set when he sees me at the line. And the other day when I walked by he threw his paper airplane for me to see.

Logistics

Eli made Evan cry. I took his toy away and said, “You hurt him for no reason!” (As soon as I said that, I knew that wasn’t the best idea.) Eli replied, “Yes reason! Evan was throwing money at me!” I turned to Evan, who was now standing beside me crying broken-heartedly. “Evan, you threw money at him!” Evan had his own reply, “No, threw it OVER him!”

Take a shower! Do laundry! Air out everything!

At bedtime after we got back from camping Eli and Evan requested their special pillows and blankets. I found Eli’s still packed with the stinky camping gear. I smelled it before I tossed it to him and said, “P-U!” Then I said, “Do you like that smell?” And Eli, a son truly after his camping father’s heart, said wholeheartedly, “Yes!” I thought he might.

Monday morning I decided to wash their stinky things. Evan started whining about me washing them. I said that they were stinky and that’s why I was going to wash them. Evan, while following me around whining, said, “No! Me want them be stinky!” Finally, I said that he could play with them now and I’d wash them later. He retrieved his prized possessions from the laundry room floor and smelled them. “Mmmm! These smell good!”

It makes me laugh. I am truly outnumbered by the males here in fragrance preferences. Kendall loves the smell of fire and fishing and outdoors. It's fine when we're out there, but when I get home I want to smell something nice! One time I asked Kendall, "So if there was a perfume that smelled like this, you would want me to have it?" In all sincerity he answered me, "Yes."

Happy Campers

We had a great weekend of camping! By the time we got home we were exhausted but happy. (And even though Kendall and I did a lot of clean-up when we got home, I was slightly overwhelmed by the work that needed to be done the next day.) We left Friday evening and took a 30-minute boat ride to our campsite. The boys and I had the privilege of seeing Kendall in rare form. To say he was happy would be an understatement. Giddy and gleeful would be two words that would help to explain his state of being at the time. As we set out on the boat, Kendall let out a whoop of jubilation. It made me happy just to see him so excited.

Thankfully, the place Kendall had in mind to camp was unoccupied, so we built a fire and put our tinfoils on. Then we set up camp. That night was so clear and calm. We went out fishing over sunset and saw beavers swimming around. (And heard a wolf howling. It was only one and across the lake from us.) Then, after the boys went to sleep, Kendall and I sat outside by the fire and enjoyed the stars in all their glory. We were even treated to some shooting stars and a chorus of loons.

Sleeping peacefully turned out to not be that big of a deal. The tent gave me a false sense of security. Saturday evening as we were sitting by the fire, we saw a rabbit hop right up to our tent, then push its nose against the side where our feet would be when we were sleeping. When we went to bed that night we laughed to think what our reaction would have been if we would have been inside at the time. We would have heard something outside our tent, then seen it pushing its nose at our feet and heard it sniffing us. We probably would have freaked out. Kendall said that he would have gone through the tent with the chainsaw. (Yes, he did take his chainsaw along but we didn't actually sleep with it.)

Saturday was beautiful. Evan and Kendall went out fishing when Evan woke up and me and Eli slept in. It was sunny and warm and peaceful. The boys spent a huge portion of the weekend patrolling the shallow water with minnow nets and telling me whenever they caught one. We went out fishing in the boat in the afternoon and saw dark clouds moving in. When it started getting closer, we headed for camp and tore around to make bannock and filet and fry the fish. We ate and cleaned up with only a few sprinkles. After supper it was only sprinkling so we decided to go exploring. We walked back into the bush and found lots of strawberries and raspberries. But no bears. I was both relieved and disappointed. We were stinky and hot by this time and looking for an adventure. So when we got back to camp, we went into the water with our soap and shampoo. It was cold! It was bathtime, but most of us stayed mostly dressed. One of the boys decided to strip all the way down and run into the water like a banshee. The rest of us washed, then gathered on the shore wrapped in towels to watch the show. The unnamed banshee screamed like a girl every time he went under water to rinse the shampoo off his hair. I won't tell you which male it was because he might be embarrassed. J (I did get his permission to share this story.)

We went to the tent then because it was raining. We were tired and disappointed to see that it was only 6:45. Especially since the boys were bouncing off the tent walls. But after awhile it stopped raining and we went out and made bedtime snacks over the fire. That night we all went to bed early.

The rain was done by morning and it was beautiful again. We caught fish for lunch and in the afternoon Walter, Sue, and Candace visited us. They are related to Kendall and a family that Kendall's family went camping with a lot growing up. Eli and Evan were so happy that Candace was more than happy to swim with them. So they played in the water while we chatted.

They left and we could see that rain was coming once again. We packed everything into the boat and it started raining. I wish I had a photo to share of our trip back. Our boat was loaded with all our junk, mostly in big totes. It was raining. Evan immediately fell asleep on my lap. Eli laid down on top of one of the totes and pulled a foam mat over him. It was noisy, windy and rainy. And Eli was under the foam mat, completely happy and singing away. And that made me completely happy.

Camping

Well, we're off for our first camping trip this weekend. The weather hasn't been the best ever, so we were just planning on leaving tomorrow morning and being there one night. But today it is actually staying sunny into the afternoon and even bordering on hot! As I was pushing the boys in the stroller today I decided that I would like to go tonight. Kendall was in agreement. Of course. So we're setting off in a boat for a 40-minute ride to a place Kendall remembers. My only requirements were that it wasn't too far away and that it had a sandy beach. So hopefully Kendall will remember how to navigate the lakes and rivers and we'll get there in time for supper. I'm really looking forward to it even though after we heard the wolves I said that I would only camp in a campground. So we'll see how I sleep and if I'll interpret every noise as a wild animal. Pray that we make it back alive and happy and that we catch fish- we're counting on that for 2 meals. Happy weekend!

Discovery

Eli had a discovery that he shared with me:
Mom, my thumb's bigger than my pinkie. That's not the whole point. My pinkie's supposed to be bigger than my thumb. That does not make sense. Know how I figured that out? I was sticking my finger through that thing I wasn't supposed to play with (a friend's food processor) and my thumb reached the egg, but my pinkie couldn't.