Camping at Lake Manitou

Friday, June 29 - Tuesday, July 3

Camping at the trailer on Lake Manitou. Since we've moved back to Ontario, this has turned into a bit of an annual tradition. Once a year, we pack up the tent trailer and head up there to spend the weekend with Jon & Sheila and boys and whom ever else decides to come along as well. Each year, we've lucked out with lovely weather. Which is a key point when you're going there. Bad weather....not the greatest place to hang out. This year was probably the best weather yet. The bugs were maybe a little bit worse, but over all we couldn't complain to much. The mosquito's weren't bad enough to chase us indoors at night so it was all good in the hood.

Friday morning we around 6:00am. Ish. Bound for the trailer. Eventually. We first had a few stops to get out of the way first. (Which ended up turning into eight different stops. Oh my. Tim Hortons and gas stops, Sturgeon Falls jobsite, Canadian Tire, Shawn & Charlotte's, Jon & Sheila's, Keith's parents and then a final stop in River Valley to buy worms.)  NAC recently got a job in Sturgeon Falls so Keith tied in a meeting around noon there. While he was at the meeting, LeeAnne, Max and I dragged out the cooler and had a little picnic lunch beside the water treatment plant. Funny story. A guy working there thought we were random tourists who pulled up to have a picnic. We told him we were just passing time/waiting for Keith while he had his meeting. ;)

I finally figured out instagram so a couple of these pics were taken with my trusty iphone.

(Check it out - I didn't notice this until after I took the photo - Max has cloud wings!)

Early in the afternoon, we arrived at the ranch of Jon & Sheila and sons...

I spy...many toys in the garden patch!

Max enjoyed stretching his legs by running around and playing with Alex and Tanner.

(Looks to me like Jon's very first truck has just about had it. I think it's waiting for a haul to the junkyard after living a ripe old age of 13 years.)

(While we inspected Sheila's flowerbeds, Jon & Keith were inspecting the new garlic digger in the background.)

By late afternoon, we arrived at the trailer and Lake Manitou. It didn't take Max long to get down to the business of fishing...

Max wore his (new) fishing hat all weekend long. He had turned up his nose when I mentioned bringing it along during the packing process. I threw it in his bag of stuff anyway. At one point during the weekend he told me "Mom, I like this hat. But I don't really want to wear it for school." Turns out the reason he was turning up his nose was because he thought I was going to make him wear it to school. Silly boy. It's for fishing and the great outdoors!

The trailer hasn't changed in all the thirteen plus years that I've been going up there. Trees have grown. But everything else remains the same...

Somehow we manage to find room to perch our little tent trailer on the side of the hill.

And somehow,  Jon & Sheila manage to find enough level room for their tent.

Max wasn't too sure about the condition of Keith's fishing boat when he first saw it. I could read his mind clearly. He wanted to be in a newer boat. Not the old tub! But Keith explained to him perfectly how this how you want a fishing boat....old and beat up so you can take it anywhere and not worry about scratching it. He was ok with it after that.

What a lot of work it is to get a boat ready for the water. LeeAnne and I were more than content to relax on the dock with our books/magazines, citronella candle and coffee/hot chocolate/lattes instead. So while they headed out for some fishing time, we chilled on the dock. I love love love evenings on the dock. :) Love.

(Nice clean-smelling flipflops LeeAnne! Thank goodness!)

By Saturday morning, the population on the dock increased dramatically. Jon & Sheila arrived with Alex and Tanner in tow. Shawn & Charlotte pulled up right on their heels with Evan and Jaxon. The place was hopping. Fishing was the name of the game. Sit on the dock at your own risk....flying lures and worms (and fish) could occur at any moment.

Days on end of fishing, makes for happy boys...big and small.

We got to meet our newest little nephew Jaxon for the first time. He's such a cute little chunk!

Some improvisation with his jolly jumper made him a happy bouncer....this is jolly jumping redneck style!

Big brother Evan was tired by lunchtime already. Fishing is hard work...

Alex with his prize catch right off the dock....

And Mr. Tanner-the-Tease, hard at work trying to make a catch...

You can almost always find Heather in the canoe...

Jon showing off his mad skills....

And more fishing...

Alot of swimming was done as well. But somehow, I never did get any photos of swimming time. Maybe cause I actually went in the water too so my camera was far from my thoughts.

Dinnertime on Sunday night. The population continued to increase. Keith's parents arrived for a couple of days. My parents and Heather & Vanessa also arrived. Rather than do a big meal for everyone each evening, we all planned and brought our own food, cooked it at the same time and ate dinner together. There were too many variables with people coming and going throughout the weekend so that was the best option and it worked fantastically! There was lots of yummy food...A couple of families each did shish-ka-bobs, we did marinated chicken and rice and fresh yellow beans and a nice spinach salad, another night there was sausage on a bun and sauerkraut, fish (of course!), mountain pies over the campfire, steak...Mmmmm! Camping food is the best!

Keith working hard to get the motor running on his boat...

My two fishermen. Love 'em! (Especially after they shower or jump in the lake for a good swim after they've been fishing!!)

Canada Day Fireworks on the Sunday night. The camp/lodge put on a fantastic show over the lake...

Sparklers for all the kids on our dock watching the fireworks...

(It almost looked like the war of 1812 or something going on with all the smoke and lights from the fireworks!)

Sunday morning, Max was out fishing on the dock and he saw a huge snapping turtle swim by. He doesn't look at all excited by the sighting, does he? LOL!

It was a quick scramble to see if they could catch it...but unfortunately, no luck.

Throughout the entire weekend, the weather was hot and warm and sunny and pretty much fantastic. Monday evening we had a brief little shower and got to enjoy a rainbow afterwards...

There was always action and commotion on the dock...

Mom & Dad, Heather and Vanessa, rented one of the cabins. It was so cute and nice inside. I was surprised. I'd totally rent one of them if I didn't feel like towing the tent trailer....it's right on the lake, clean and comfy and perfect for a weekend when you want to be outside most of the time.

Max, Alex and Tanner spent hours jumping on the bunkbeds. Max would ask me "Mom....can we go over to visit grandpa & grandma's cottage?" If the answer was yes, there would be a big fistpump, accompanied by a "YES!" and off they would go....

Max told me later that the best part of the whole weekend was playing/jumping from the bunkbeds. Who knew?!

Tuesday morning it rained at noon. We had packed up the tent trailer by then so it didn't phase us. Keith & Jon cooked one last big meal of fish for those who were still around and interested in eating it. Afterwards, we (Keith & I, Max and LeeAnne) headed out for home.

The gravel roads to get out of the camp were wet and muddy. We stopped at a carwash in Sturgeon to wash the truck. Such a good washing job Keith. Yes, in the photo it looks like his truck has a shiny reflection under his hand, but it's not. It's a big spot of dirt he missed washing off! :)

Such an eventful drive home. First we got stopped by a RIDE program shortly after we left the trailer. (Seriously? On a Tuesday? In the middle of nowhere? That would def be a surprise for unsuspecting campers who weren't behaving.)  Then we ended up running out of gas. Yes we did. So we had to wait beside the road for about 45 minutes for CAA to come and resuce us with gas.

After that excitement, we proceeded home without any other unexpected incidents...playing the ABC game the entire way thanks to Max. Man, he sure loves that game. Personally I'd rather play it then "I'm thinking of an animal"...so you won't hear me complaining anytime soon.