Charlebois family adventure day one. Up at 7am. The aim was to leave
home by 10 and I think we actually managed to get out of the house by
10:30, which is an AMAZING feat for my family of slo-mo's. Not a bad start... But by the time we hit the 401 a whole 2kms away it was just after noon. That's more like our schedule. Taking too much time to do the simplest of errands. We managed
to merge and accelerate to almost 80kms/hr before we hit traffic at a
standstill. Construction. Fabulous. There's another 25 minutes tacked on to our
already 90 minute, 3km voyage.
We finally arrived in old forge around 5pm. So taking into account we left at 10:30ish and made a pit stop at Target, we only took 7 hours to do a 3 hour drive. Not bad timing for a family of 5 including an infant and a diabetic on a strict eating schedule.
After checking in we drove into the campground in search of "Kabin #15" in "Chipmunk Cove" or something like that.
"Where is our cabbage?"asks Juliet.
"Our what?" I reply.
"Our cabbage" She says.
"It's a cabIN Juliet, not cabbage. Cabin"
We found our spot & settled in. It was awesome. Clean & cozy. We lit a fire & cooked some dinner & got the kids ready for bed. We have some excellent campers... and Sofie was right on in there.
Kids asleep, my husband and I were sitting by the campfire enjoying the relaxing sounds of camp life. On this particular night those sounds included our neighbour shouting "hey! Shoo! Get outta here!" ... We chuckled. Must be a skunk. Maybe a raccoon. Better him than us. Lol. [Insert growling bear noise here]. Excuse me?! What was that you say? And not just one bear... No no. It was mama bear and her cubs. Are you kidding me?? What happened to skunks & raccoons? I'm a little surprised that I didn't fly from the comfort of the fire through mid air and straight into the comfort, & safety, of the cabin. I didn't even wet my pants, which is very possibly more than I can say for the campers one over from us who turned around from their fire to retrieve their marshmallows off their picnic table that just happened to be covered in BEAR. Geez. ON the picnic table? Really? I decided at this point that it was probably a good idea to get rid of our garbage that was sitting on OUR picnic table. The campground did warn us about bears, but we've been warned before about bears in Lake Placid and NEVER even came close to seeing any. And they warn you against leaving food out or in view when you aren't around or are sleeping... they don't warn you about the bears that will steal your food WHILE you are eating it!! So, we proceeded to watch as the bears devoured the poor kids marshmallows & graham crackers a whole 20 feet away. So much for relaxing by the fire. More like sitting on edge with flashlights on trying to decide if that's a bear or your eyes playing tricks on you. As the bears moved on, the lovely relaxing sounds of camp life turned into the distant honk of a car horn, the occasional shouts of "bear" and another "get outta here!" before the bears mounted a second assault on our area from the rear! I swear... If we didn't have a cabin to sleep in I probably would have been wearing one of Sofie's diapers, if someone was even able to talk me out of the van and into sleeping in a tent. It's amazing how much courage knowing you can retreat into a [somewhat] safe cabin can give you. Oh, and we decided that we'd have our s'mores for breakfast. Although if the bears are coming right up & joining you for meals I guess it doesn't really matter. Here's a pic I took from where the bears were eating their treats, just to illustrate how close they were.
The next night was more of the same, although the bears didn't come up and steal the food from our plates. Sitting by the fire I nonchalantly mentioned that there was "a bear over there"... similar to the way you might announce the presence of a raccoon. Black bears are a little difficult to see in the dark so just to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on my my husband shone the flashlight behind the fire. Sure enough, a HUGE bear strolling right by our site. Seriously? He was even closer than the cubs the night before! Gave us a look like "S'up?" & carried on. Really? I couldn't help but pat myself on the back for renting a cabin over tenting it. Good call. And that wasn't even the end of it! In the morning when we woke up early with the kids we noticed that our neighbour's car door was wide open. Early risers as well? Ha! Upon closer inspection we noticed that the front seat was covered in dirt while the back seat was all messed up and covered in empty wrappers. Oh yes. These bears open doors!! A park employee informed us that mama bear has already taught her cubs to open car doors. Yep. You read that right. BEARS OPEN CAR DOORS FOR FOOD. How funny would it have been to get up in the night to pee and find a bear eating chocolate in your back seat? Probably not as funny as it would have been to see the bear in your neighbours back seat...
So that was the end of our bear encounters. Not like that wasn't enough. They were still around though because you could clearly hear the shoos & yells from all angles of the woods. 24-7 we were told... and this was the worst summer yet. Urban bears... they like their chocolate & s'mores and will open your car doors & smash through your cabin windows to get it. Awesome.
Now let's get back to the real reason we went on this trip. We wanted to end the summer with a bang so nothing screams fun more than camping & an amusement/water park!! Yes indeed! A day and a half of water slides & kiddie rides! WooHoo! The campground has a wonderful package deal where you can camp for 3 nights & get a day pass to the water park. Bonus... if you go to the water park one day after 3pm the whole next day is free! AND... there's a shuttle bus to & from the campground to the park. What more could you want? (No bears perhaps??). So the kids patiently (somewhat) waited until 3 o'clock rolled around and off I went with them to the water park. We had 3 hours until closing so I decided we should walk around and get a feel for the park so that when we came back first thing in the morning we would know exactly where we wanted to be. After we walked around we could hit a couple of slides.
First order of business... a gondola ride that the kids INSISTED we go on. Lovely. It barely secured us in and made my legs jello the entire ride. The kids thought it was wonderful but all I could think about was falling to our death. And the thing moves so damn slowly you get a whole half hour to think about it. Barf. Juliet even cried when I said we would NOT be doing that again. On the plus side it gave us a fantastic aerial view of the park so we knew exactly where we wanted to go. We went on a couple of slides after that I had to basically coerce Sam into. I'm really not that mean... He's just scared of everything the first time and I knew he would like them. Which he did. Then I decided that we should try a slide called "The Shadow". The kids were a little skeptic but I assured them it would be fine. "It won't go fast" I said. I decided that the best course of action would be for me to go down first so I could wait for them at the bottom. They agreed. So we climbed up the 6 story slide and got in line. "Go ahead" the lifeguard says as he looks over the edge waiting for the person ahead of me to reach a certain point. Off I go. Holy s#*t. My life flashed before my eyes. Never in all of my life have I felt speed like I did on that slide. I thought I was going to die. As you slide you naturally lift your head up a bit to try and see where you are going... even if they tell you to lie down and cross your arms & legs. Oh my god. There was one part of the slide that was so friggin' fast it whipped my head back so hard my neck hurt for 3 days afterwards. When I finally shot out of the bottom of the slide like a bullet and regained some sort of equilibrium all I could think of was little Juliet coming down behind me. "Oh Shit" I said to the lifeguard. But it was no use. They start the next person at the top before the first even reaches the bottom. At this point all I could do was wait for Juliet to shoot out the bottom and do damage control. I was sure this was the end of the water park. I couldn't even imagine Juliet being able to breath at that speed... I barely could. And Sam... he would never forgive me. I stood there anticipating the hysterics.
Lucky for me (& them I guess), it turns out that kids don't go nearly as fast as adults do! Phew. Juliet plopped out of the bottom and Sam came down sitting up!! I couldn't believe it! They even wanted to do it again! Yay! Of course I had yet another near death experience and got another dose of whip lash but the kids loved it. Not even Papa went down fast.
As we walked around the park the following day Sam decided he wanted to try racing Papa down a slide that was pretty steep, and we decided we were not going to stop him (thus giving up our chance at the parent of the year award). I knew I had to get a picture of this the first time because there was no way there would be a second. As soon as Sam hit the water and proceeded to swim from the pool like there was a shark on his tail I could tell we were going to have tears. "How was that?" I asked excitedly, knowing full well what the answer was going to be. "BAD" he barked... and burst into tears. I couldn't help but laugh as I gave him a hug. I know, I'm horrible. But it was too funny... and I knew he was fine & just a bit shaken up. We tried to make him feel better by telling him that he won. It worked... even though the pictures say otherwise...
Brave little man! There was only one other time that I might have forced Sam, crying, into a tube & down a slide. Juliet wanted to try it first but when we got to the top she chickened out. When I went up with Sam and he did the same I wasn't taking no for an answer. It's not like he had to ride it alone. It was a double tube & I was right there with him. I might have looked like a horrible heartless mother... and my tattoos probably didn't help the image, but I did it because I knew that in the end he would love it. Which he did :o)
The rest of the time was great. I didn't get on too many slides because we had Sofie but the kids had a blast. It really is a great spot. Lots of water activities & just enough amusement rides to keep the kids entertained, with NO LINEUPS. It was great. I've done enough talking for one night so I'll let the pictures say it all. Well definitely be back again next year.
We finally arrived in old forge around 5pm. So taking into account we left at 10:30ish and made a pit stop at Target, we only took 7 hours to do a 3 hour drive. Not bad timing for a family of 5 including an infant and a diabetic on a strict eating schedule.
After checking in we drove into the campground in search of "Kabin #15" in "Chipmunk Cove" or something like that.
"Where is our cabbage?"asks Juliet.
"Our what?" I reply.
"Our cabbage" She says.
"It's a cabIN Juliet, not cabbage. Cabin"
We found our spot & settled in. It was awesome. Clean & cozy. We lit a fire & cooked some dinner & got the kids ready for bed. We have some excellent campers... and Sofie was right on in there.
Kids asleep, my husband and I were sitting by the campfire enjoying the relaxing sounds of camp life. On this particular night those sounds included our neighbour shouting "hey! Shoo! Get outta here!" ... We chuckled. Must be a skunk. Maybe a raccoon. Better him than us. Lol. [Insert growling bear noise here]. Excuse me?! What was that you say? And not just one bear... No no. It was mama bear and her cubs. Are you kidding me?? What happened to skunks & raccoons? I'm a little surprised that I didn't fly from the comfort of the fire through mid air and straight into the comfort, & safety, of the cabin. I didn't even wet my pants, which is very possibly more than I can say for the campers one over from us who turned around from their fire to retrieve their marshmallows off their picnic table that just happened to be covered in BEAR. Geez. ON the picnic table? Really? I decided at this point that it was probably a good idea to get rid of our garbage that was sitting on OUR picnic table. The campground did warn us about bears, but we've been warned before about bears in Lake Placid and NEVER even came close to seeing any. And they warn you against leaving food out or in view when you aren't around or are sleeping... they don't warn you about the bears that will steal your food WHILE you are eating it!! So, we proceeded to watch as the bears devoured the poor kids marshmallows & graham crackers a whole 20 feet away. So much for relaxing by the fire. More like sitting on edge with flashlights on trying to decide if that's a bear or your eyes playing tricks on you. As the bears moved on, the lovely relaxing sounds of camp life turned into the distant honk of a car horn, the occasional shouts of "bear" and another "get outta here!" before the bears mounted a second assault on our area from the rear! I swear... If we didn't have a cabin to sleep in I probably would have been wearing one of Sofie's diapers, if someone was even able to talk me out of the van and into sleeping in a tent. It's amazing how much courage knowing you can retreat into a [somewhat] safe cabin can give you. Oh, and we decided that we'd have our s'mores for breakfast. Although if the bears are coming right up & joining you for meals I guess it doesn't really matter. Here's a pic I took from where the bears were eating their treats, just to illustrate how close they were.
The next night was more of the same, although the bears didn't come up and steal the food from our plates. Sitting by the fire I nonchalantly mentioned that there was "a bear over there"... similar to the way you might announce the presence of a raccoon. Black bears are a little difficult to see in the dark so just to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on my my husband shone the flashlight behind the fire. Sure enough, a HUGE bear strolling right by our site. Seriously? He was even closer than the cubs the night before! Gave us a look like "S'up?" & carried on. Really? I couldn't help but pat myself on the back for renting a cabin over tenting it. Good call. And that wasn't even the end of it! In the morning when we woke up early with the kids we noticed that our neighbour's car door was wide open. Early risers as well? Ha! Upon closer inspection we noticed that the front seat was covered in dirt while the back seat was all messed up and covered in empty wrappers. Oh yes. These bears open doors!! A park employee informed us that mama bear has already taught her cubs to open car doors. Yep. You read that right. BEARS OPEN CAR DOORS FOR FOOD. How funny would it have been to get up in the night to pee and find a bear eating chocolate in your back seat? Probably not as funny as it would have been to see the bear in your neighbours back seat...
So that was the end of our bear encounters. Not like that wasn't enough. They were still around though because you could clearly hear the shoos & yells from all angles of the woods. 24-7 we were told... and this was the worst summer yet. Urban bears... they like their chocolate & s'mores and will open your car doors & smash through your cabin windows to get it. Awesome.
Now let's get back to the real reason we went on this trip. We wanted to end the summer with a bang so nothing screams fun more than camping & an amusement/water park!! Yes indeed! A day and a half of water slides & kiddie rides! WooHoo! The campground has a wonderful package deal where you can camp for 3 nights & get a day pass to the water park. Bonus... if you go to the water park one day after 3pm the whole next day is free! AND... there's a shuttle bus to & from the campground to the park. What more could you want? (No bears perhaps??). So the kids patiently (somewhat) waited until 3 o'clock rolled around and off I went with them to the water park. We had 3 hours until closing so I decided we should walk around and get a feel for the park so that when we came back first thing in the morning we would know exactly where we wanted to be. After we walked around we could hit a couple of slides.
First order of business... a gondola ride that the kids INSISTED we go on. Lovely. It barely secured us in and made my legs jello the entire ride. The kids thought it was wonderful but all I could think about was falling to our death. And the thing moves so damn slowly you get a whole half hour to think about it. Barf. Juliet even cried when I said we would NOT be doing that again. On the plus side it gave us a fantastic aerial view of the park so we knew exactly where we wanted to go. We went on a couple of slides after that I had to basically coerce Sam into. I'm really not that mean... He's just scared of everything the first time and I knew he would like them. Which he did. Then I decided that we should try a slide called "The Shadow". The kids were a little skeptic but I assured them it would be fine. "It won't go fast" I said. I decided that the best course of action would be for me to go down first so I could wait for them at the bottom. They agreed. So we climbed up the 6 story slide and got in line. "Go ahead" the lifeguard says as he looks over the edge waiting for the person ahead of me to reach a certain point. Off I go. Holy s#*t. My life flashed before my eyes. Never in all of my life have I felt speed like I did on that slide. I thought I was going to die. As you slide you naturally lift your head up a bit to try and see where you are going... even if they tell you to lie down and cross your arms & legs. Oh my god. There was one part of the slide that was so friggin' fast it whipped my head back so hard my neck hurt for 3 days afterwards. When I finally shot out of the bottom of the slide like a bullet and regained some sort of equilibrium all I could think of was little Juliet coming down behind me. "Oh Shit" I said to the lifeguard. But it was no use. They start the next person at the top before the first even reaches the bottom. At this point all I could do was wait for Juliet to shoot out the bottom and do damage control. I was sure this was the end of the water park. I couldn't even imagine Juliet being able to breath at that speed... I barely could. And Sam... he would never forgive me. I stood there anticipating the hysterics.
Lucky for me (& them I guess), it turns out that kids don't go nearly as fast as adults do! Phew. Juliet plopped out of the bottom and Sam came down sitting up!! I couldn't believe it! They even wanted to do it again! Yay! Of course I had yet another near death experience and got another dose of whip lash but the kids loved it. Not even Papa went down fast.
As we walked around the park the following day Sam decided he wanted to try racing Papa down a slide that was pretty steep, and we decided we were not going to stop him (thus giving up our chance at the parent of the year award). I knew I had to get a picture of this the first time because there was no way there would be a second. As soon as Sam hit the water and proceeded to swim from the pool like there was a shark on his tail I could tell we were going to have tears. "How was that?" I asked excitedly, knowing full well what the answer was going to be. "BAD" he barked... and burst into tears. I couldn't help but laugh as I gave him a hug. I know, I'm horrible. But it was too funny... and I knew he was fine & just a bit shaken up. We tried to make him feel better by telling him that he won. It worked... even though the pictures say otherwise...
Brave little man! There was only one other time that I might have forced Sam, crying, into a tube & down a slide. Juliet wanted to try it first but when we got to the top she chickened out. When I went up with Sam and he did the same I wasn't taking no for an answer. It's not like he had to ride it alone. It was a double tube & I was right there with him. I might have looked like a horrible heartless mother... and my tattoos probably didn't help the image, but I did it because I knew that in the end he would love it. Which he did :o)
The rest of the time was great. I didn't get on too many slides because we had Sofie but the kids had a blast. It really is a great spot. Lots of water activities & just enough amusement rides to keep the kids entertained, with NO LINEUPS. It was great. I've done enough talking for one night so I'll let the pictures say it all. Well definitely be back again next year.
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