Meadow Lake Fish Camp

We left Kamloops and headed up to the Fishing Camp, up past Little Fort.  The drive was pleasant, the last 4 miles were truly off roading and I am thankful I had my book for the places that seemed a bit freaky trying to avoid huge holes and ruts in the gravel road while going up or down a steep hill.  The minivan handled it like a champ - and Jeremy drives really well in it. 

We arrived in our cabin and it was definitely rustic. We had beds galore, a bucket of water, two camp lanterns and a wood burning stove. Jeremy kept the fire going for us in the evenings and through the night so we were quite pleasant in our cabin though we didn't spend much time in it.

We found the life jacket shed and were ready to head to boats

First a few practice casts in the yard.

A picture of the main lodge, a delicious breakfast and dinner were served here each day and there were functioning bathrooms and showers to make it easy camping.

We are off to Meadow Lake, the lake right behind the lodge.

Brenna and Nona Lainie were ready

Kate liked the row boats

The back of the lodge as seen from the lake

Getting ready to fish

Brenna, Papa and Nona

Wendy, Greg and Caedan

Lucy with the first catch of the trip

Looking in the fish bag

Lots of bunnies hopping around the camp much to the kids delight

A firepit with marshmallows the first night - delicious.

When we weren't in boats or hiking to lakes the kids could be found running around playing in camp

Kate practicing her casting

The next morning we walked to Flapjack lake (5 minute hike) and took the boats out there.

No catching but fun fishing.

Grandma and Gram

Finally when we were pulling the boat in to head back Jeremy found a school of really small fish, he caught a few and it was fun to see them and let them go.

Frogs - as the days warmed into afternoon there were frogs all through the grass, the kids had a fabulous time catching them and building frog homes for them, I am sure the frogs weren't as thrilled about these homes as the kids were.

Brenna and some pretty wild flowers

And we're off for our next hike to another lake. I can't remember the name of this one but it was about a 30 minute hike in (and 20 out, we had to hurry for dinner).

Nona, Greg, Caedan, Brenna, Lucy, Jaydon, Wendy, Jeremy and Kate

Dad and Kate

Taking some family pics in front of the boats at the lake, it was so beautiful!

The Chambers Family

More playtime after dinner.

There was this super cool rainbow in the sky and pictures do not do it justice.  It was a full double rainbow but then the lower of the two is what you see in these pics and it was a rainbow that had multiple layers of each color touching each other, at least 4 layers could be seen in person.  I had never seen anything like it.

 

 

Dad and Jaydon went out to try and snag another fish after dinner.

 

Success!

The next morning found us rowing around on Meadow Lake again.  Dad took the older kids and fished with them while Kate and I enjoyed just rowing around in our boat, holding a fishing rod with a big blue fish at the end.

Greg and Brenna enjoying the water

Such a beautiful place to enjoy a vacation

We then decided to hike to Lost Horse Lake (about 15 minutes) and have a picnic lunch.

The camp sends everyone off with a sandwich and thermos each day so we added some other goodies from our supplies and enjoyed a feast in the sunshine.

That evening we got out the squirt guns and the kids had a blast squirting each other (and the adults)

 

Uli, one of our hosts and the chef extraordinaire made a fun fish birthday cake for Jaydon to help us celebrate his birthday a little early with the whole group.

 

Big family style meals were a hit

Jaydon trying out the loon hat

Enjoying another campfire on our last night.

The last morning we took off after breakfast and some fun group pictures on the deck.

Grandma, Jaydon, Jeremy, Kate, Lucy, Sarah, and Nancy

Nona Lainie, Greg, Brenna, Wendy, Caedan, and Papa John

Our whole group

Uli and Francesco, our hosts, joining the picture on the far right

The kiddos

On our drive out of camp, you can tell we were in a remote area, not a road to be found, even when it hit 100% calculated it was just our car.

Hotel in Kamloops

After leaving Bellingham we headed north to Kamloops BC to spend the night at a hotel before heading up to Meadow Lake Fishing Camp for a 3 night stay.  The hotel stop was a nice way to break up the trip and hang out with our family (and play at a cool pool).

Swimming time (we took advantage of the pool, Sunday afternoon and Monday morning)

The kids loved dipping in the hot tub

Trying to time their jump in together

Monday before heading to the Fish Camp, our family of 5 headed to a fun riverside park in Kamloops to burn off some energy.  Jaydon of course wanted to play baseball and the girls wanted to swing.

Walking along the waterfront.

Bellingham visit

We got to head on a multi-part vacation starting in Bellingham with the Citros.  It was so fun to catch up with them and play in our favorite town, not to mention eat at our favorite restaurants.

Mallard's Ice Cream!!

Climbing a fun tree outside the Marine Center.

Relaxing for a bit of movie time before going out to dinner. Sooo cute to see them all snuggled.

Playing at a new playground we found.

I got some snuggles with X before we had to leave for stop 2.

Thanks Citros - we had another fabulous weekend, sorry we were a bit late getting up there.

Swimming Lessons

The kids enjoyed their 2 week swim lessons again at our local outdoor pool.  It was fun that Gram could get into the water with Kate one day so I could take a few pics and not have to get wet.

Kate loved swimming so much that she has now been putting on swim suits (multiple at one time) and wearing them around all day.  It is cute, though also annoying when we want her to be in something besides 3 swim suits.