Blue Elephant Island

The name has been changed to protect the location of the island. It is now forever to be referred to as Blue Elephant Island. Oh, there's a story as to how it got it's name, but that's best told by the 5 y/o who named it and he's not here. You may remember that my family makes up stories about everything so trust me when I say the island's new name is very appropriate.

We arrived last Friday evening with plenty of daylight left to get in an exploratory paddle and even a hike, although we did walk back to camp by moonlight.

My kids will tell you that I'm not a fan of marshmallows cooked after dark, that I prefer to cook them during the day. Yeah, and I still have no idea how Sir S's marshmallow ended up stuck to my butt, and my arm, and my chair, and my hair. Yep, cook those gooey things during the day I say.

We slept well, but it got darned cold, probably mid-30's, so I was pleasantly surprised when this little guy agreed to leave his cozy sleeping bag before dawn to jump in the canoe for a sunrise paddle. He wasn't even awake but was nodding his head like crazy when I asked if he was ready to get up. Dressed quickly, jumped in the boats and we were off. I'm not sure he's ever seen a sunrise, but boy did he like the canoe. We had eagles flying overhead; an osprey passed us on the river; there were loons, 'honking birds', turtles and a few fish. And one muskrat. We spotted an aerie too. The sunrise was beautiful.

Look at these great reflections. Lots of cool things to see when you watch the sunrise from the water.

This might have been the highlight of Sir S's weekend, when he got to paddle the kayak by himself. Not to worry, I'm the one on the camera and we were right there helping him along. Ok, we were helping when we weren't laughing because everything was too big for him and he went in circles more than he went straight, but with a well positioned bump or two (or a few more) we managed to all get across the lake and back to our camp.

And being a boy he had some serious exploring of the shore to do. You know, rocks to throw, shells to pick up, sticks to poke in the sand, and all that leads up to a very wet boy. Here's his very own drying spot. It turned out to be the place he put everything he was using. There's even a slingshot hanging from the branch. Alex, you'll recognize that slingshot from our many trips to the river.

A quiet moment by himself.

It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Do you think he got up rather early?