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Our Vancouver trip is fast approaching, but not fast enough! Obviously, I couldn’t sit still for long. I really, really wanted to get out there. ”Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames, can I rent a cabin for the weekend?”

Of course he would agree! We looked at cabins in Jasper, AB, but couldn’t find a cheap cabin rental. And then there’s the last minute packing with the kids and the dog…. We thought about when we forgot Keven’s food, when we underpacked…. Something local would be so easy and convenient!

I just saw that week an add on an app called Hipcamp. I figured, why not try it out? Nothing to lose. I love to scroll Expedia even when we’re not going anywhere. We found everything that we were looking for (lakefront, family friendly, trees, dog friendly….), and we ended up finding an adorable cabin. How convenient, 30 minutes away from our house!

We left quite late on Friday night (the Crazies ripped the curtains off the wall…). We got there and wow! We were so amazed! The hosts were the friendliest we’ve ever met and the cabin included everything. Why did we bring water, salt and pepper? They provided the exact same water jug we use, which lasts for a whole weekend.

Being quite dark outside, we sat down for a fun family night of UNO. Even though Joe wasn’t convinced at first, she quickly started participating at lawn darts and card games. James made spicy sausages on the BBQ and my sensitive gut didn’t enjoy it.

The next day we slept in. Well everyone did while I took Keven out for a walk on the lake. It was right out the door! There was a nice ice rink on which he pulled me. I felt like a little kid, except when I fell.

We had eggs and bacon for breakfast and James headed out to use our brand new Rapala Ice Auger to drill holes. We can’t afford Gucci gear, but for the price it was we said ”Hell yeah!” We geared ourselves up to go out there and set up our lines.

Spence wasn’t satisfy with being out there so I got back in while James stayed outside. I was so happy the cabin was so close to the lake! I spent time with the kids and beaded a bit (I made a travel kit) while J was out there. He came back later not having caught anything but he was satisfied with the outdoors.

He was absolutely beat so it was his turn to stay with the baby while I went out there to cook spicy sausages on the BBQ. I made a fire and Joe roasted herself a few marshmallows. It was my first time trying the lint in the toilet paper cardboard as firestarter and this things WORKS!

We spent the night in playing Uno, Cribbage and Euchre. We had a blast without internet! The sky was beautiful and we could see so many stars, we were just discouraged by the cold and forgetting our telescope to get out there.

The next day we slept in again. But then came the time to pack and I was pretty happy, as I was cleaning up, that our hosts provided us with everything we needed. We definitely will be back there!

Our next trip is all planned for Vancouver in two weeks! I am pretty pumped. I have never been past the Rockies and to British Columbia. I will be driving there with the Crazies and James and Jenny will meet us there by plane.

I got a CamPark action camera to record timelapses of the road trip and an Ilford Sprite 35-II to play with. I can’t wait to try them out!

Until then, a video of our Half Moon Lake weekend is being edited. It’s our first YouTube video!