Camping at Lac Philippe

We went camping for 3 nights and 4 days at Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park with the Wilde, Stiles, Clark, Montminy, Martin, and Albers families.  The first day was spent setting up our campsites, then that evening we took a stroll over to Parent Beach.  Len captured this shot at twilight.  Yes, it was just as tranquil as it looks.

 

There was a playground nearby and we were able to round up all the kids for a group shot.

 

It poured down rain that first night, but our tents kept us nice and dry.  This was our first year camping with both of our 10-man tents, and it was heavenly!

 

Saturday morning our group hiked up to Lusk Caves.  I sat out with Ali (who was just too little) and Gavin (who just had eye surgery 5 days before).  I thought Teague and Hiram would stay with me, but they opted to explore the caves with their Dad and oldest siblings.

 

 

 

 

 

Renée helped Teague at the end of the first caves.

Once the group returned from round one, Rebecca convinced me to leave the little ones with capable friends and go through.  She then said if we're in a penny we should just go in a pound and do both caves.  It was so fun!  I'm so glad I did it, even though it meant swimming in icy water up to my neck for the last stretch.  Thank goodness Jackie lent me her headlamp or it would have been pitch black too.

 

 That night we had all 7 families together for a potluck dinner.  We had all the ingredients for a Taco night- crunchy tacos, soft tacos, taco salad, yum!

 

 

 

Ruby wanted Kaleb's attention.

 

She loves her "donkey" because he always gives her piggy back, or donkey back rides, ha!

  

There are 3 beaches at Lac Philippe and Sunday we visited them all- Breton beach, Smith beach, and Parent beach.

 

 

 

That night we all gathered again to share our firewood, roast hotdogs, and marshmallows for s'mores.  We all sang primary songs around the campfire and there was such a sweet spirit.  We also had a beautiful prayer together.  I'm so grateful for such good friends!

 

 

 

 

 

The kids loved swinging in the hammocks!

 

WEE!

 

Monday morning the kids played together, while the folks packed everything up.

Len is always ready with a story if he has an audience.

 

Baseball anyone?

 

 

 

 

Gavin was so good and wore his sunglasses all weekend.  He only forgot once and swam with his head under the water.  The timing of his eye surgery wasn't the best with our camping trip, but he was a trooper!

 

Hiram says, "Ruby is my best friend!"

 

Hiram also dubbed this place, "The Rocky Mountain."  All the kids explored on these rocks whenever we were at the campsite.

 

At night, Jackie gave all the kids finger lights and then the rocky mountain became the fairy mountain with all the little light fairies flying around. 

(Hiram never wore his shoes when he was climbing here, ugh!)

 

Happy faces!

 

Adventurous faces!

  

And Isaac's face says it all, "We had a blast camping!"

*I didn't take hardly any pictures during this trip.  Thank you friends for sharing your lovely pictures with me!