Summer in one weekend

When your summer is as cool as this one has been, you have to cram in your summer activities whenever you can, and that was exactly what we did the first weekend of August!

We had been wanting to go camping with friends, but with daytime highs of 14C (mid 50s F) and lots of rain, camping would not be fun. That just isn’t right for the first week of August. Thankfully the forecast changed to something resembling summer and so we hastily made some plans. It was also rodeo weekend here in Olds, which we didn’t want to miss. So, we went to the parade and rodeo on Friday, and Saturday we headed east to Drumheller for our first big camping adventure.

At this age, the kids are pretty easy to entertain. Just give them a big enough area and they chase each other around. The campground we stayed at was pretty nice. All the individual camping spots were taken, so we ended up getting a “group” spot. For two families it worked out to be cheaper, plus we had a huge are for the kids to run with with grass (normal camping spots were pretty much empty of grass), and we were away from the crowded main area! The downside was the pool. We got in and it was a bit murky. I joked about how you couldn’t see your feet in the pool, then I stopped laughing when I looked down and realized it was actually true. Just before we got out I noticed this thick, slimy stuff floating in the corners. I pointed it out to Alan and made a comment about how it couldn’t really be more gross when we noticed Adelaine holding someone’s band-aid she had found in the pool. That was the final straw and I was desperate enough to overcome my cheapness and use the pay showers.

We had a nice fire and stayed out late talking to our friends quite late after the kids went to bed. The night was pretty cold (10C!) and Ethan and the girls woke up in the night, but isn’t that all part of camping?

Drumheller bills itself as the Dinosaur capital of Canada and the place had lots of dinosaur figures, paintings, stores, and activities around town. So after breaking camp in the morning we went off for lunch and then to Fossil World, a kids mini museum and activity place.