Our Campout

Last week, we went to our annual homeschool campout at Golden Hill State Park (or Thirty-mile Point as it is on the map). The campground is situated right on Lake Ontario; there is a marina, and a working lighthouse on the grounds. You can actually pay $200 a night to sleep in one of the two apartments in the lighthouse!

Dad and Mom go to the campground in the beginning of the week and come pick us kids up towards the end of the week. This week, they came and picked Jonathan, Ben, Sarah, Paul, and I up on Thursday (23). When we got there, it was really hot and humid. Dad and Mom said that earlier that week it had been really cold and the people who were on the lake front sites were all bundled up in jackets, sweatshirts, and blankets.

On Friday, we all enthusiastically voted to go canoeing. We went down to the marina and set in our canoes and kayak. Ben was very excited to go in the kayak; it's been something he has been looking forward to very much. Sarah and I went in one canoe and Jonathan and Paul went in the other one. The wind was fairly strong out on the lake, but the waves weren't very big. It was so good to be canoeing again! After a while we went back in to see if anybody else wanted to go out. Mr. Torrey did, so he went with Paul and Jonathan took the kayak. While Jonathan was getting in the kayak, Mr. Torrey and Paul left. By the time we got out there, they were pretty far out. After a bit, we caught up with them and told them that we needed to stay closer to shore. The wind carried us back to shore and east of the marina. It was hard trying to turn against the wind. We found out that Mr. Torrey hadn't been in a canoe for years and didn't know how to steer. :) Jonathan tried to give directions, but it just wasn't working. They couldn't turn the canoe forwards, but they could paddle backwards, but not enough to get much headway against wind. :)
Dad told us on the two-way radio to have Sarah and I tie their canoe to ours and haul them back. THAT was a interesting time! :) Sarah and I weren't very experienced in the canoe either, but we had been doing pretty good.
So, we tied the back of our canoe to the back of theirs (note:BIG mistake!:) and started to pull away. We would get going pretty good when Mr. Torrey would pass us and we would be in the back. Then Mr. Torrey and Paul would start paddling for a little ways and get turned around so we would be in the front. Jonathan paddled around us trying to give us instructions but every thing would get messed up. We would sit there and laugh at the lunacy of it all (well, at least a couple of us would:).
Also, Dad had the radio and would call us once in awhile to see how we were doing. The problem was he would call at the most inopportune times.
We weren't that far from the marina but it was hard going against the wind. As you can see, we did get back. :) We all were exhausted though. We had had lots of fun and learned a few lessons on how to work a canoe better and working together.

In the evening, our neighbors came to up to see us at the campground. We had a good time throwing rocks into the lake, telling about our adventures, and eating mountain pies and s'mores. There was a reallly neat display of lightning out on the lake.

My brother Peter and his wife, Amy and Amy's family, the Liptaks, came that night to camp for the weekend.

Saturday, we took lunch over to the marina and went canoing again. :) This time I went in the kayak. It was fun to learn how to use it. It is a whitewater kayak so it is hard to keep it going in a straight line. That afternoon, there were whitecaps on the the lake. That is fun! We didn't go out very far and we were in a protected place. :) We canoed for a few hours.

That afternoon, the Bucks came up. No other homeschooling families were able to make it up and we missed them. We played softball till it was time to eat, then had a good time of fellowship.

Sunday, we had our church service there. Afterwards Peter, Amy and the Liptaks got packed up to leave. Some of us went to play a little volleyball and then we played four-sqaure. We were going to play some more volleyball, but something else came up -- we went canoeing for a couple hours again. :) That time, the lake was very calm, so Mom and Dad went out and canoed up past the lighthouse. We went to bed that night a little sad that it was our last night there.

In the morning, we started to pack up... the worst time of camping! Although, afterwards we went and...went canoeing again, what else! :) Needless to say, we were much better at canoeing then than when we first started. : ) Mr. Torrey did a very good job at steering. :) On a side note, :) it is alot of fun to sneak up behind people and spalsh them with your paddle! :)

There is a pretty big Amish community up in that area, so on the way home, we stopped at the Amish general store. That was fun. They had alot of neat books there. Mostly they were Rod& Staff and Christian Light Publication books.

So, that was our weekend of camping. I am sorry it has taken me so long to post about it.