The Coswan's Blog....NOW News from the South: September Long Weekend Camping....and raining....and driving....

As we've done for many past September Long Weekends, we got together with our old camping crew from Calgary for yet another entertaining weekend. We were unable to secure our standard group area at Kananaskis, so we decided to camp at the Provincial Campground just outside of Carseland, right on the Bow river. It was our first time there, and were very impressed with the campground. The area we ended up in had 8 stalls all surrounding a nice size grass area - perfect for the kids to roam in. And kids there were - with there being seven families attending, we had a total of 18 kids - yes, I said 18, ranging in age from 1 to 12. We arrived later on Thursday evening, and enjoyed a perfectly clear evening under the stars beside the fire. We awoke to sun, and enjoyed the day around the campsite - cool beer, good meals, and lots of playtime for the little ones. Saturday was more of the same, except the forecast called for rain.....LOTS of rain. It seems rare that the weathermen are right these days, but they said it would rain at 5pm, and they were pretty much bang on. Thankfully, after EXCESSIVE NAGGING by the ladies, the guys were able to set down their beer long enough to set up a monster tarp - at least 25x25 over one of the camping areas/fire pits. So, no matter how hard it rained, we were still somewhat dry, and able to have a fire. Maybe EXCESSIVE NAGGING is too strong of a statement, but the final line from the ladies was "If you guys don't want to put up the tarp, just give us the stuff and we'll do it." After going thru what we did to get "Steve's Sail" up, we should have let them try.....not easy, but wow, SO worth it! Anyhow, after almost 24 hours of straight rain, it let up Sunday evening and turned out to be a nice weekend.

We were also very lucky to have cousin Sydney join us for the trip - she's become good friends with Mad Dog over the years of camping at Long Lake, and Kate and Lauren absolutely love her, so her being there was great for everyone. She got to visit and hang with Mad Dog, and Kate had a bedmate in her queen bed side of the trailer. Thanks for all your help Syd! We must have worn her out, as on the drive home, the only two people awake in the truck were me and Kate - everyone else was out!

It was definitely sad to pack up on Monday, as it was the last camping trip of the year. All in all, we did pretty good this year - three camp trips, and almost 20 nights it the trailer, so we we're good with that. Both girls seem to love camping as well, which helps. We're also hoping it marks the last of some things, like next year, Lauren won't be sleeping in her playpen (she'll be sharing a bed with Kate), Lauren will be out of diapers, and Lauren will hopefully be able to be trusted to be at/around the campsite without worry of her beating herself up. Do you see a pattern here?

When we returned Monday evening, we had put on 1768km on this trip alone - not exactly a picnic with the kids, but they travelled SO good, there were no issues at all on the return trip (almost 10 hours in the truck), and EVERYONE was ready for a night in their own beds (all three girls slept till 8:45).