Prep

We've been doing a bunch of things to help get Jonah ready for our canoe trip next weekend. We have a tent and camping pillows set up in the playroom. We have a few library books that give us the opportunity to talk with Jonah about all kinds of things like canoes, paddles, lifejackets, roasting marshmallows over the fire, backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, etc.

We have tried "camping milk" (thanks for the tip on mini soy milk tetra packs, Krista!) which he drank once it was chilled (that could be an issue) and "camping oatmeal" which he hated and made him cry.

I've taken Jonah on a couple of long walks WITHOUT the stroller to help him prepare for portaging. I also took him to Victoria Park, which is "a playground in a forest". Most of our time was spent in a forested area, collecting sticks for "the fire". Once we had made our pile, Jonah sat right down with a short stick to roast marshmallows! That gave me the opportunity to talk to him about how HOT fires are, and how we need LONG sticks to roast things over the fire. So, we found some long sticks, which soon became our paddles as we "canoed" out of the park.

We've also been able to get Jonah out in a canoe twice, which he LOVED! The second time we were able to picnic too. He's really going to love our trip, I'm convinced, but he's going to be hyper and happy, going non-stop most of the time. Am I going to be able to handle it?

Still wondering how sleeping in the tent will go. And how he'll do when the canoe rides actually involve him sitting in the canoe for a couple hours at a time. The lifejacket it gonna make him pretty hot. Hopefully it won't be too hot and humid, and hopefully it won't rain the whole time! That will be a whole different issue! I'm a little worried about bugs too.

Here are a few pics. Can you even see Jonah in the first pic? He's right behind me. We're out on Puslinch Lake.


I pulled the laundry baskets out today and told the boys to pretent they were canoes. They ran with the idea. The wooden spoons became paddles. Jonah found "Daddy's canoe hat" and put it on all by himself. Eventually a drum was added to the boat, which made it a Dragon Boat.


I found a sweet deal at Wal-Mart this morning. A pack of two "canoe hats" for $3.00! Woo hoo! As an aside - Jonah has a big head! We had to go to the size 4-6x section. Ummm, he's not even wearing clothing for 2-year-olds, but he needs a hat for a 4-year-old?!



And we PROMISE NOT to dress Jonah like Miles in this pic... unless we WANT to lose him.