Average Momma: Single Momma Camping!

Wow! Another speedy Summer has flown by! Add having a baby and buying a new house to the typical Summer business and I seriously have no idea how it is September already! In August I went camping at Awenda Provincial Park with my two adorable kiddos, my sister and her adorable kiddo and my newly married sister. That's right sans husbands! It was a little intimidating to spend a week with a new born and a strong willed toddler all on my own - but it was actually really great! We had excellent weather (the best warm week of the Summer I believe). We kept ourselves busy with the beach, exploring Penatanguishene, going on walks, and keeping ourselves fed and clean! I took a little "surprise" for each day for PJ to keep her busy and to keep ourselves scheduled to ward off any "crazy" toddler syndromes! We did things like bubbles (I bought a kit of different bubble blowers - they were very fun!), rice bucket, playdo for the first time, Bingo dobbers, colouring, pedicures, and edible necklace making. It was really fun sharing these fun times with PJ. We did them during Big C's morning nap time so she was receiving my full attention which she LOVED (as well as the attention of her two aunties). She also got to do something that she NEVER gets to do at home - sleep in Mommy's bed for nap time and at night time. She was quite the fun cuddler so it was pretty special for me as well. One thing about sharing a bed with her though - she takes up quite a bit of space considering she is the whole of 26lbs and maybe 2.5 ft tall. Also, if she wakes up and sees her Momma sleeping peacefully beside her she HAS to investigate. I woke up to all different things....once she was using her flashlight to light up areas of my face and whispering "yes, Mommy's eyes", "yes, Mommy's nose", "yes, Mommy's mouth". With each highlight and whisper came a little finger poking me. I have NO idea what was going through her mind at the time...lol. Another highlight of the week was that my older sister Katie showed me how to use the Manual setting on my camera! Its been so fun learning how to use my camera and playing around with the settings to get good shots of my kiddos! On the weekend Mark (and the rest of my family) came and joined us and we had our annual Labour Day VanGrootheest Family Camping. It was a great weekend with our annual ice cream date, our worship service around the campfire, lots of walking and hikes, and trips to the beach.