July 24, 25 & 26 were spent camping at the
Three Sisters Campground just outside of Canmore Alberta!
Okay so it is my goal to actually register our site in 28 minutes flat one of these times. It always seems that with two little "HELPERS" it can take a very long time to get the tent and chairs laid out on our site. It also might help if I were able to pick the camp site in the first go not the third! http://www.bowvalleycampgrounds.com/b-valley/cgrounds.html
I love these signs, they are great for reinforcing the message to children about being tidy, putting away all the food and walking to the garbage often. Pleasantly despite the hot hot weather there have not yet been any bear sightings around this campsite so we were not to worried.
Tuesday we arrived in the mid-afternoon and after only two drives around the site found our ideal campsite. First I set up the requisite "Helper Distracters" like the MiniTent for placing assorted stuffies camping tents, hot wheels, books etc, the horseshoes and then the soccer net. After a week of soccer camp BeaverJ was keen to show off some of his new skills.
This always keeps them happy until I take out the rubber mallet to drive the tent stakes into the ground. What could be more fun to do than to try and make off with the rubber mallet to bonk your sibling, after all they run in terror, Mommy turns a funny colour and runs really quickly!
It turned out that they would be a great help when I realized I could turn the tent on the ground sheet to achieve a larger area for our shoes and the excessive amount of personal space a 2 & 5 year old need to get their shoes on while sleepy in the middle of the night! It turns out that they are fantastic at caring things by quarter turns from all of the "Parachute time at Gymboree". As a reward for their truly helpful help I broke out Red Crystal Light!
Veiw through the trees from our site
The beginnings of the worlds longest to light fire. I was sorely disappointed to have spent all of the effort fanning the flames when our neighbouring campers brought out the lighter fuel and had their campfire roaring in seconds.... Good thing DaddyJ(aka PyroBozo1) was not present!
Some evening shots of the Bow River
I have found the people are very nice when you are camping, especially if you are camping alone with two small children. On this evening's adventure I realized I had some very smelly garbage that I did not want to store in the car overnight for fear of oozing, so naturally I popped over to the neighbours to ask if they would mind cloths-lining the kids should they wake up and exit the tent while I literally ran the garbage to the big bin.Interestingly the neighbours had a huge bottle of GlenSomeone on their table and a cooler full of ice which they were sharing with the neighbour on the river next to the above pictures. So they are all chatting away in such a friendly manner that you feel like all is well in the world. Perhaps it is because camping is like being on your front porch, you watch the world, smile at strangers and are relaxed enough to think the best of people.When I mention that I need to leave my site and children unattended for a minute and would they mind keeping an eye out for pop-out children everyone starts talking at once. The Lovely grandmotherly lady of the GlenSomeone bottle tells me that the kids are so wonderful, "they are like little dumplings" a particularly cute comment since both are small but slim. The mans who's site they are sitting at offers to take the garbage out for me and they all want to know if there is anything else they can do to help. Ahhh I love the comradery of it all....
Wednesday
Wednesday morning we woke up to an alarming number of mosquitoes on the tent. It was as if they were all hovering waiting to see who could suck our blood first! There is nothing like one hundred mosquitoes swarming you to make you hustle through breakfast. After breakfast we headed out for a walk on the campground trail along the Bow River where the kids enjoyed floating some dry wood and throwing rocks into the rapidly moving water. After that we were off to Canmore....
Eating breakfast
Contemplating the tree sap, its affect on the soccer ball,what happens to sap if you poke it with a stick etc....
While this campground lacks the dry slow riverbed areas of Beaver Flat, it does make up with some spectacular mountain views.
Off on an Adventure walk
The requisite nature photos after years of visiting the night time Ampitheater Edutainment
The Bow River
By this point I was seriously considering buying the 27% DEET not for children under 12 as the possibility of blood poisoning, neurological issues etc just to save our little bits of exposed skin! In the end coming into town was fantastic as there were almost no mosquitoes to be seen and more importantly it reset the mosquito irritation meter.
As always while visiting Canmore the three of us did our two most favourite activities; having lunch at the Grizzly Paw our all time favourite family restaurant The Grizzly Paw http://www.thegrizzlypaw.com/ and going to the Centennial Playground for a few hours of fun. This made for several hours of fun at the park...which led to a trip to Knit and Caboodle for some Baby Alpaca for mitten knitting http://www.knitandcaboodle.ca/
Peek-a-boo BabyJ
The Great Slide Caper began with BeaverJ teaching BabyJ to build up momentum before flinging yourself down the slide! Thankfully both are so grungy from sunscreen and bug spray that they can not get going too fast.
Wednesday evening we had the pleasure of having our wood carried into the site and stacked by the very nice Bow Valley Campground caretaker, a visit from our new neighbour to chat with the kids and generally be sociable. Ironically a single young male elicits less friendliness from me than elderly couples, despite how sweet he was with the kids. The next morning I felt badly that I had not been more friendly ... That evening I sat around the fire watching all of the evening stars arrive like little fireworks.Thursday
Thursday morning we all slept in very late. It was time to have a little bit of breakfast, head out for another walk and pack up the site. Hilariously there were already people hovering for our campsite!
Okay now for those of you how do not know, I am the WORLD'S Coldest Camper, I must sleep with a winter hat on pulled down to my nose and the blankets pulled up to my mouth. Needless to say this has prompted the children to sleep with their hand knit winter hats on despite being tiny little infernos who wiggle out of their sleeping bags they are so hot. As you can imagine in the mornings when people walk past our camp site and se the three of us walking around in out winter hats it sparks a little curiosity. Never Fear soon I will be sleeping with some lovely new baby alpaca violet mittens too LOL
Best Wishes for your own Camping Adventures from
The Toque & Polar Fleece Crew
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