Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Our camping trip to Keji.......

So we decided to venture into the woods of Keji for 5 days with our kids and what a blast we had. If Jeff didn't have to go back to work we probably would have stayed even longer. We spent the week with Peter & Angie and their 4 kids. We had the BEST campsite that was right across from the bathrooms and playground. The kids would live at the playground when we were at our campsites so it was a pretty relaxing time!!! So we got there on a Monday......we set up camp right away and then we went and hiked the trail up by Mills Falls..........I should say we hiked and the kids RAN the 2+km trail. We then let the kids take a dip in the water at the bottom of the falls but nobody swam too much as the water was pretty cold. We had an awesome supper of Turkey Casserole the first night.....roasted some marshmellows and sent the kiddies off to bed.


Jacob helping to set up our tent......


Campsite #109.....our home for the week......


Checking out the Mersey River......


Venturing out to the falls.....


Going in for a chilly dip......


So our first night there we had some visitors. I was a little unsure about leaving our coolers outside but Jeff said they would be fine as they were closed up tight. Oh was her wrong!!! Around 4 a.m we heard our cooler lid CLOSE!! That's right.....CLOSE!!! Jeff got out of our warm bed and proceeded to shine his flashlight out of a tiny hole to see what was going on......only to see 2 beady eyes staring back at him. We had a big raccoon and a little raccoon snacking on our site. Once they got the hint to leave Jeff went out to see what they had gotten into......missing.....1 pkg hotdogs......1 pkg bacon.....2 yogurt tubes and they were in the process of getting the other pkg of bacon when it got stuck and they were caught. I was not too impressed but the kids sure thought it was funny. I guess too that the meat wasn't enough and they crawled under the tent we had around Peter & Angie's picnic table and they took the plate with a piece of peach pie and licked it clean........the licking noise is what woke Peter up and brought him out. Camping note........raccoons are smarter then you think and can open up locked coolers.....nothing is safe when they are around......



Empty bacon wrapper that they left behind....


Our other friends.... the squirrel

So you'll notice the above picture is a squirrel .....not a raccoon.....we had the most friendly squirrels living at our campsite. I'm sure they would have sat on our laps had we invited them. This one decided a Fruit to Go bar looked pretty yummy and helped themselves. It was priceless. They also decided to go into Peter & Angie's grocery bag......chew a whole through a plastic container and eat a doughnut or two........Peter intially was getting the blame of opening the doughnuts until we dug out the pkg. Funny Stuff!!!

So the rest of the week we did many hiking trails with the kids......Angie and I did a 12 km bike ride.....it was just beautiful!!! We went canoeing and saw some turtles.....biked around the block many a times with the kids.....swam at the beach.......the guys did some kayaking.....many campfires...seeing lots of deer.....eating ice-cream and just alot of fun!!! The day we went to leave it was raining and luckily we were smart enough to pack alot of things the night before. We had everything loaded up by 9:20 am.....not too bad!!! We ventured in to Bridgewater .......stopping at the Turkey Burger for lunch. It was AWESOME!!! Jeff had the "Stepladder" burger which is 4 burgers stacked together.....condiments and onions on every layer. He did indeed eat it all!!! We then had a visit with my brother and crashed the night at his place before coming home. We have now been home for a few days and I"m not unpacked yet........I hate unpacking. We are hopefully going to head back for the Thanksgiving weekend and get in one more camping trip before winter arrives. I'll post some more pictures at the bottom and hopefully will get them all up on facebook later today.




So beautiful and peaceful here.......


On the Flowing Waters trail......


Georgia ready to canoe....

My 3 big kids.....


The Stepladder.......

9 comments:

Julia said...

i can't believe that the raccoons were able to open a locked container!! thats semi impressive. semi frustrating too tho.

i have never been camping at keji, and never really had the desire to, until you wrote about it. you should work for their marketing team. you made me wanna go and see what it's all about.

if we wern't already planning a trip to cape breton weekend for the turkey weekend, i'd be in the tent right next to you. how about mid-winter camping??? lol...maybe not. baby steps!

Kristi Drennan said...

Oh such good times! You're a trooper! Man I don't know if I could do that just me and Matt and you do it with three kids and an infant!! AND you have fun!! That's great. Love the pictures...especially the ones I saw on facebook of the trees mirrored in the water. Love the new blog look too!

Ashley said...

That sounded like a fun 5 days! I totally understand the unpacking thing...I hate to do that, it usually takes me a week just to do mine, it would take longer if i had 4 kids!
That burger was huge! Good times!

Channynba said...

Looks like you have a blast there in the great outdoors.
And I am sure your dad had an awesome birthday celebrations.
Great pictures...and bytheway, that hamburger tower looks realy, really gross.

Jane said...

Sounds like an awesome trip. The kids are oh so cute. Way adventurous too!
If you get the time..."TAG!"

Claudine said...

That's so awesome! I totally wish I was a camper...I'm SUCH a girlie girl! The pics were awesome! I'm totally glad you had a wicked time! Hope all is well!!

Just Rhonda said...

Holy cow that hambuger is the biggest thing have I ever seen. And looks like you guys had lots of fun. I had no idea Raccoons where that smart either. I'd be annoyed with them too!

Anonymous said...

That trip sounds like so much fun... It reminded me of when we went camping when I was young and brought back some good memories. I love all the pictures and that burger looks surprisingly appetizing, maybe just because I've been denying myself, but props to Jeff! Hope all is well:)

Sarah said...

I have no idea how I stumbled upon your blog, but it's been great reading all about your family. It sounds like things are pretty hectic with you, but your camping trip seemed like a good break.