Jacob and I always want to try camping, but just don't know where to start. As a kid growing up in a city, it's just so hard for us to imagine the way a camping should be like. I did like nature and went to the mountains with my family a lot when I was little, but we never lived in the moutains. If we stayed out of towns for days it must be in hotels.
It was really a new thing when I heard that my dear companions in the church, also young moms, took their babies to camp in tents. And I really want to try (at least) once in Alberta, where you have various choices of campsite. So when one of the moms, my kind friend Quelly asked me if we want to join them this summer for the camping in Jasper, I agreed without hesitance. What would be better to go with an experienced family! Although the pandemic kind of ruined our plan to camp in Jasper, the Morris family found Moose Lake as substitute.
For the preparation, we literally had nothing for camping except a 5-person tent. So we borrowed a lot from the saints: matresses, sleep bags and camping chair, thank the Lord that we have lots of kind brothers and sisters here. To be honest I was almost sure that we didn't prepare enough, but certainly the Morris family would be our best support, that's how we could sleep well the night before we went...even when we saw weather forcast said it's going to rain on the weekend.
It was raining heavily when we got there, so we had some rice balls in the car.
Thank the Lord that there's a short break during the big rain that day! Both families built up the tent and set up everything within half an hour.
Singing time after the supper...in Morris' cozy tent, under the big rain.
First night in our tent! We brushed our teeth in the tent because of the rain. Luckily no leaking inside the tent.
The rain just didn't stop until very late after we went to bed. For some reason Jeremy asked me to hold him all the time, so I got a living heater in arms at the cold raining night. (I never thought about needing a heater in August though...)
It felt so good waking up by the sunshine! And kids were happy too playing with sticks, stones, trees...there were toys everywhere.
Breakfast time! Pancakes and sausages by Morris' family. It tasted SO GOOD. And I just realized how important the campfire was. It kept us warm in early mornings and evenings.
Cuties sittting on the rocks...and trees.
After the breakfast, we took a short walk on an easy trail near our tents. Four little ones were walking happily by themselves, so moms had a good time talking and picking wild berries and flowers along the way...
A boat launch at the end of the trail. We didn't get good pictures there because it was too bright at the back, but it was surely one of the best scenes I have seen during this camping...love how clear the water was, and you could even count every stone under the water. Kids were already excited to play in the water, but it was not warm enough in the morning so we dragged them away shortly.
So we got a whole hat of bluberries and wild flower bouquet after the walk. Big harvest!
Before the lunch, kids found the playground and had lots of fun there.
After lunch, it was naptime for Jeremy. We also took a rest with him. I enjoyed a quiet time watching sky and trees from the tent.
So this was our picnic table these few days...I have to say that it was really fun to find a way to have meals in raing days, but the tarp was basically built by Josiah. Thank you brother!
Lots of people work from home recently, but have you ever seen someone working from campsite?
A huge dragonfly on the way to the beach.
Finally, our big time of this camping----swimming in the lake! It was quite an adventure to find the trail leads to the lake beach though. We took some time to get to the beach, but this might be the reason we got even more excited when we got there.
At first kids jumped into the water so happily, but it got quite cold when the sun hiding behind the clouds...so soon they refused to go back to the water again but rather stayed dry and play sand.
I was encouraged (or...forced?! lol) to go into the water after my brave friend Quelly went in...I was not sure if I got used to the cold eventually by staying in the water longer, but it was surely a great experience. It looked like we were swimming in an infinity pool, luxury enjoyment eh? I actually tried to swim a bit more but just couldn't bury my head into the lake water...it was surely a hard task for city kid. (And another city kid from Taiwan was just reading on the beach...)
It suddenly got so empty when we were about to leave. The beach was not too big but clean. Love it!
Soon it's supper time. Chef Quelly's skewers were so good.
Raining again?! To adults it might be a bad thing, but these little ones took the chance to have some unbrella dance in the rain. Yeah, raining is not that bad. See how happy they are!
Campire tonight. One of the best part of campings. S'more and sarklers...I felt like I was one of the kids, enjoyed these things so much with a simple heart.
Love this scene. How blessed we are to have kids growing together in church life.
Even brushing teeth can be so cute?! haha
They all love this natural playground. Thank You Lord for creating everything for us.
The second but also the last night. Picture with our cute "home" for these nights. 
We visited Garner Lake Provincial Park on the way back home. Although kids couldn't play in the water since there's Blue Green Algae warning, but I can sense that they were joyful just playing together.
Last picture before saying good-bye to this trip. I enjoyed this camping so much that I totally agreed when kids said they want to stay one more night in the tents. But I was looking forward to having a warm bath at home!
We felt so thankful that we could come with Morris family for our first camping. It would be impossible for us to survive if it's all by ourselves...Josiah and Quelly just prepared everything, all the tools and knowledge...it might be a small thing for them but it is really big to us. Because of them we really had a good experience, not worried a moment even in the big rain. Through them we learned a lot too! Look forward to having more wonderful camping experiences!
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