Summer!

Well summer has officially started - some one just forgot to tell Mother Nature.

We had our first camping trip last weekend - it was awesome. We were only 30 minutes from St John's yet we were in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. We only went for one night - just to try it out and make sure we had everything we would need. It was a huge success and we cant wait to go again. We bought 2 tent sets from Canadian Tyre for $45 a set, and they came with a 4 man tent (good luck fitting 4 in them) two chairs, two sleeping bags and a cooler. Jenna and Abby wanted to share a tent so they slept in one and we slept in another with our doors facing each other and about 40cm between them. Abby was exhausted after an afternoon of exploring and asked to go to bed after sausages and baked potato on the campfire, but not before she had had a few toasted marshmallows and a few smores, which are toasted marshmallows sandwiched between 2 biscuits with a piece of chocolate that melts into the marshmallow - yes they are very good!

Jenna was so excited to be able to stay up late and she was great - she is always good when she has one on one time. She and I went for a walk and threw sticks in streams rushing under bridges and ran to the other side to see whose came out first. She always won because she always chose the biggest stick and gave me the little twig. When she did finally crash, she crashed and they both slept like babies in the great outdoors, they even snuggled together.

Noel and I enjoyed a bottle of wine by the fire as the temperature dropped quickly, it got down to about 6 degrees so it wasn't too bad. Thankfully we took lots of extra blankets. It has been years since I slept on an air mattress in a sleeping bag and it was surprisingly comfortable, wouldn't want to do it for weeks on end but a couple of nights here and there will be fine.

The night we went was the night before the Summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (winter solstice for you lot down under) so the sun did not set till after 9pm and it was still twilight till after 10pm and then the sun was up at 5 so it was getting light from about 4 - so that is only really 6 hours of darkness. Anyway late sunsets make star gazing difficult. I have seen pictures and heard that the stars are amazing from where we were, and we had a rare clear night (in the last 70 days, we have had 7 days of sun - yes that is right - 7 and that was spring), so I was looking forward to some stargazing but the fresh air knocked the good out of me and I had to sleep. We did stay up long enough for Noel to see his first satellite which he thought was pretty cool.

Noel rose before 5 the next morning and did his best to climb over me and quietly open the zip and get out - needless to say that was me up for the day as well, Abby woke up and couldn't see Jenna who had rolled off the side of her airmatterss - luckily I had put warm blankets on the floor next to her. Noel and Abby got the fire going and Jenna woke up not long after to a bird sitting on the top of her tent. It was Fathers Day, the girls gave Noel a 'Best Dad Ever' Hat.

We had breaky and then went exploring , we went off the track and found ourselves in a few muddy and rocky predicaments but we made it through relatively unscathed.

We packed up not long after we got back - meanwhile the rest of the campers were just starting to stir - and headed to the wildlife park. We saw Moose, Caribou, a lynx, owls, a woodchuck, canada geese and many more animals. By this time the girls were thoroughly exhausted and fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car so we took the long way home and they had a good snooze.

So camping was great, cant wait to do more!

Jenna had her last day of school today - she is well and truly ready for a break from school. We are really proud of her and how well she did at school this year, her report card was sensational and her teacher called her 'a dream student' - GREAT JOB JENNA!

Jenna starts grade 1 in September - full time school (did you hear my woohoo).

I have the weather on my desktop for here, Perth and Darwin (for Shani) and I am sorry to say but I have loved seeing that Perth has been having near zero temperatures...sorry everyone but it was time for someone other than me to be in freezing temperatures like that., and well to Shani in Darwin - I am not even going to mention your perfect weather at the moment!

Anyway that is enough for me today, stay warm everyone!

Vanessa