OH JOY! Nothing like a week off, no WIFI, 5 people squished into a camper, heading off on a 4.5 hour trek to enjoy nature! This is family vacationing people!!
(Disclaimer, I *may* have used up my entire data plan for this month and (probably) for the next 3 months...damn you Pintrest!).
Destination: Sylvan Lake & Aspen Beach
We started our venture off by visiting my BFF in Calgary. The plan was camp in the Walmart parking lot (read: cheap) and break up our drive to nature. Now I have heard a lot of hype over the camp experience at Walmart, and the fact that it was free was definitely appealing. So after a splendid visit we were off to set up. Yippee!
Oh.
Back in the truck. Off (again) to find another Walmart to experience!!!
Yippee!
Well the good news was that the next Walmart had no (rude) signage. The bad news was, no one else was camping there (red flag). No worries! We are adventurous folk! We set up, got our jammies on, were brushing teeth...**BANG BANG BANG**HONK HONK**
OMG... someone.is.at.the.window!
This is a classic Walking Dead scene in the making!!!
I peek out. Security.
......And we are on the move again! Yippee.
We made a U-turn and joined the other trailers out on the street BESIDE the Walmart parking lot. Pfft! Who knew that Walmart camping is actually just a big fat lie. I need add that there is something entirely weird about sleeping in the street. It had a bit of a homeless feel to it.
Walmart street camping. Take in that construction view people!
The next day we rolled into Sylvan Lake and set up camp at Jarvis Bay. What a great spot! The sites are completely private and we scored with a lake view.
Our campsite also had this monster rock in it which provided hours of entertainment for the kiddos
(Child on the right is not ours, but she fit right in.)
Sylvan Lake has a huge bonus... waterslides! Hello,this is truly kid heaven! They also had this bouncy castle sort of thing out on the lake. The kids went nuts for an hour and were dead tired. Probably because they had to keep bouncing in order to keep their body temperatures barely over hypothermic levels. So totally worth the $15/kid, right? Cold, tired kids! It's a win win!
After a few nights in Sylvan we moved over to Apsen Beach. We camped in the Brewer's campground and let me tell you, this is a 5 star joint! 3 parks, concession stand (read: ice cream), completely private sites, sandy beach, a huge shallow lake area for swimming. Our kids would take off on their bikes and we wouldn't see them for hours! It was fantastic!!!
We had to pick up Chad's daughter Raedyn on Thursday and so that was a good day to waterslide. (AKA...pick your own death...hypothermia or collapsed slide. Neat!) There is a reason it is scheduled for demolition next year. OMG the metal was so rusted out even I (being a chick) noticed that. I also have to say that the nurse in me has a distaste for shared water. Just saying. I went on *one* slide just so I wouldn't be out of the running for Mother Of The Year.
Wee.
Doesn't it look delightful in the picture? DON'T BE FOOLED PEOPLE! It's a dilapidated freezing pool of death! In all fairness, the kids loved it and it was a highlight of their trip.
Of course you have to have MOO's ice cream following....
The rest of the week was spent at the beach with family.
I will give myself a few extra gold stars for coming up with creative and fun ways to keep the kids busy during those "I'm bored" moments.
One.
Make a Scavenger hunt. I made a list of things for them find and it kept them busy for hours!
(ie. is site 167 taken? How many tents are in loop E. How many washer/dryers are there? Can you see the beach from site 110? You get the point!)
Two.
Make Leaf pictures. Aren't these cute?
And now we home and the amount of laundry I have is outrageous! Seriously, how many towels does one family use in a week of camping!?
Off to detox from my weekend of buns and booze!
