Houseboating with baby

It was with much anticipation that we planned for our first houseboating adventure with our little Abby. There were a lot more 'things' to pack and to think about. Should we bring the high chair? How much food will she need? What toys are most important to bring?or should we just bring them all? Before Abby's arrival it seemed like we emptied our entire house into the houseboat for our five days away. This year it seemed even more like it!

Another couple with a baby only four days older than Abby went houseboating not long before us so I asked what they wished they'd brought and what they were glad to have with them. They were very helpful and so I thought I'd share some of the things I learned with anyone else who might be thinking about houseboating with baby.

1. Vacationing with a baby is not relaxing. Don't expect it to be. Most of you are laughing at this because you learned it a long time ago. Somehow this was a revelation to me. We have always looked forward to this time as a getaway to really relax. But the sleepless nights came with us, and the dishes, and the diapers...

I will admit to one morning where I decided that no one in their right mind could possibly houseboat with children for fun. The real problem of course was my expectations not my baby. Our little Abby had a great time and once I changed my expectations I had a lot of fun too.

2. If you have a little one who is eating solids a high chair is very helpful. For most of you space in your vehicle is an issue on this one but it was great to be able to put Abby in the chair to eat. Booster seats can't be attached to the benches so if you hope to use one of them you will want to bring a lawn chair to attach it to.

3. Bring as many of baby's favourite toys as there is room in the car (once you have the essentials packed). You are going to be spending several days on the boat and you will want to have all the favourites handy for your little one to play with. Abby loves her books so we brought them all. She also has a bucket of little animals that she loves to play with so we brought them all. I didn't regret packing a single toy. She played with everything.

4. The pack and play is nice and we used it for nap time but at night I ended up sleeping with Abby most of the time. The different routine and surroundings just made it too difficult for her to get to sleep on her own and she still wakes up often during the night. We all got more sleep when I slept with her. That means you should plan to bring extra blankets for the front bench or other bed. 

The pack and play is also nice for letting baby travel on the front deck to see the sights. It was too cold when we traveled for Abby to really enjoy being on the deck but the other mom I talked to said her little guy loved it.

5. Plan to eat supper early so you can get the dishes done before baby goes to bed. You're living in pretty close quarters and if the dishes don't get done I find it's really hard to get breakfast ready the next morning. In the past we've eaten after fishing in the evening but that really doesn't work with baby unless yours sleeps through anything. Our little girl doesn't want to miss a thing so sleep is hard come by at times.

6. If you enjoy hiking bring a carrier along so you can get out and enjoy the outdoors. We used our carrier in the big boat while we fished. It's a Kelty and stands up so Abby played with some toys and watched us fish. She loved it and was quite excited to see the fishies up close.

7. Choose a spot to park where you can get out and walk around. Our spot was beautiful and very protected but it wasn't at a campsite and had a very steep hill right at shore. We were glad to be so protected when a storm came through but I but because of this I was nervous about taking Abby off the houseboat since it was a bit of a drop if I lost my balance. And there wasn't really anywhere for us to go once we left the boat. 

8. Bring a baby monitor so you can go fishing after baby is asleep. We rigged up our walky talkies so we could monitor Abby in the boat one evening. It was great to be able to get out for an hour or so and fish together. We were never out of sight of the houseboat and we knew Abby was safe so Mike and I were able to relax and enjoy some time together.

9. Make sure you bring a life jacket for baby. We provide one size keyhole life vests but not infant or children's life jackets. You'll definitely want one for swimming. If you are stopped by the safe boating team you need to have life jackets that will fit each person on board.

Highlights of the trip for me were watching Abby learn to stand up by herself at the windows, seeing her excitement over fish and worms and water and having so much time to spend with her. While Mike and I didn't get to have nearly as much together time as other years we made the most of the time we did have and I think we had a great first vacation as a family.

Riding the Dreamcatcher Express

The last two weekends have been busy but fun. The Dreamcatcher Express comes to town at this time of year and brings people to enjoy the fall colours during their trip from North Bay. They get to spend four hours in Temagami and then ride the train back to North Bay in time for supper.

We have had the privilege of driving our houseboats to provide a cruise on Lake Temagami during the Dreamcatcher for the past seven years and it has been a lot of fun. We have met so many nice people and had the chance to share what we love about our town. It's busy but a nice change from cleaning houseboats since right now we are busy getting them ready to come out of the water for another year :)

This year the fall colours have not been as spectacular in Temagami as other years but there was a nice showing in North Bay which made the train ride quite scenic.

For the first time we had the opportunity to ride the train and I have to say I was impressed. The dome car is beautiful and gives a great view of the scenic beauty you are traveling through. We saw four great blue herons on our trip back to North Bay and on two other mornings the travelers saw a moose. The entertainment car is spacious and the music had everyone's feet tapping.

Little Abby loved her first train ride and it made us want to travel by train again. It was so relaxing and we could all take in the view instead of keeping our eyes on the road and watching for dangers along the way. We took Abby for walks up and down the aisles and it was easy to amuse her. She made friends with a little boy on the trip. They played peek-a-boo between the window and the seats for at least 45 minutes. It was so cute to watch. Abby's ears perk up now whenever she hears the train go through town.

Abby and I go geocaching

I've been looking forward to trying to find a cache for months now. I was going to go in May but first it snowed, then it rained and then things just got busy... Today I decided that we were going to go no matter what. And then I realized why I hadn't gone before now as it got later and later in the day. When my little girl decided she was not going to nap this afternoon I seized the opportunity.

I wanted to try what looked like a nice easy cache for our first one and went to the picnic area at Net Lake. Believe it or not I have never stopped there before. I was surprised by how busy it was and I quickly wished I'd brought a little picnic for us to enjoy. We always went on picnics with my family and I have lots of great memories of enjoying the outdoors and family and great food. As Abby gets bigger I'm sure we'll head back here for a picnic or two.

I got out our little yellow Garmin Gecko 101 and Abby was immediately interested. Yellow is her favourite colour and there were buttons to push! As we followed the arrow to the cache I

discovered that the pipeline passes through the area and there is a well used ATV trail on it. We followed the trail until the GPS showed us that the cache was off the trail. Now this was something I was not prepared for. Carrying an eight month old baby and wandering through the bush was not an easy task. I was worried about the branches hitting her face so I was moving slowly. Unfortunately, our little Gecko needs movement in order to work properly and in the bush it just didn't go very well. Judging from the comments on Geocaching.com I spent a bit too

much time in the bush and overshot it. I know I was close. I could see where others had also searched for this cache. I probably almost stepped on it.

We did have a lot of fun. Abby discovered leaves

and needles and tree trunks and ferns. We also saw a family of almost grown grouse. I'm sure they thought we were chasing them as we went round and round looking for the cache. We had to give up because it was supper time and almost bedtime for a little girl who hadn't wanted to nap. Maybe when Abby is a bit bigger we'll try this one again when she can help me search for the cache and I don't have to worry about her so much. I can see this being a lot of fun with our little girl in a couple of years!

Grocery News

We are very excited that our grocery store has reopened. It is now under the name Our Daily Bread. As with most new beginnings it takes a while to get everything running smoothly, however things are coming together nicely.

If you went grocery shopping in town the first few weeks after the store opened you may have been surprised by what you didn't find. The stock was quickly bought up by our enthusiastic town visitors. It was great to see how quickly inventory could be turned around in our little community.

All of the basics are there: bread, milk, eggs, meat, ice cream and ice (in the middle of summer when it's 30C these are staples), and dry goods can all be found on the shelves. You won't find three different brand names of each product for comparison shopping but you will find what you need as you shop the aisles.

There is a good selection of fruits and vegetables which are grown right here in Ontario making them nice and fresh when they arrive. The meat is also grown and processed locally either in Warren by Creative Meats or by our butcher, Norm Lacroix.

Nine months without a grocery store in town certainly made us appreciate the convenience of being able to run to the store to pick up what we need. We hope that Our Daily Bread has a successful season and will be around for many years to come.

Hike to High Rock

A few years ago my sister and I had a chance to take a trip on one of our houseboats. We have lots of special memories from those few days. We swam and fished and roasted marshmallows and laughed and explored. All in all it was a great weekend.

It was my first experience houseboating without my husband who has grown up on Lake Temagami and driving boats. It was fun to get to be a tourist for once and explore somewhere I had never been.

We decided to go to Cross Bay to a campsite that turned out to be perfect for one houseboat and two sisters to have a weekend getaway. We dubbed it 'Sisters' Sanctuary'. One of the reasons we had chosen that location was because I wanted to hike up High Rock. We towed a 14' boat behind the houseboat so we could easily get to the landing for the hike since I didn't know my way. While we were there someone came along with a pontoon boat so I'm sure we could have driven the houseboat right there. The dock was a bit worse for wear but maybe someone has fixed it up a bit since then.

The hike itself was not too hard. There were a couple of spots that were steep but it wasn't so hard that we couldn't visit as we walked. This is a well traveled trail so you don't need to worry that you might lose your way.

The big boulder was along the trail and left us wondering what had made it stop there instead of continuing down the slope. The other two pictures give you an idea of the view from the top. High Rock is located at the hub of Lake Temagami and in one picture you can see some of Temagami Island and just a few of the many island that dot the lake. I would highly recommend this hike because it doesn't require you to be a great athlete and because of the fantastic view. Bring some water to drink and even a picnic if you want and definitely bring your camera.

Night skies

Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed watching the night sky. I grew up in Northern Ontario on a farm. With the lights of the nearest town miles away we had the perfect location for seeing the night sky in all its beauty. We used to take our sleeping bags out on our front lawn for the night just so we could watch the stars until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.

Now I live in Temagami and we don't really have a lawn to sleep on but I still love to watch the stars in the night sky. Really I don't think anything compares with a clear sky on a moonless night on Lake Temagami. Far from the bright lights of the city the countless stars shine brightly. Something I never had a chance to see on the farm was the reflection of the stars on the water on a calm night. I think those calm nights are now my favourite to be watching the stars move across the sky.

Mid-August is a great time for stargazing with the Perseid meteor shower peaking Aug 12-13 this year. There can be up to 50 meteors an hour during this time. Unfortunately this year the full moon is on the 13th but the weeks leading up to it should have a good showing of meteors in the hours before dawn.

If you want to watch the planets bring along your telescope and check out which ones will be in the sky while you are in the area. www.nightskyinfo.com or www.stardate.org might be helpful to you if you don't already have a sight that you check to see what is interesting in the night sky.

Also keep your eyes open for the Northern Lights. If you are on the lake shortly after a solar flare you may get the treat of watching them dance across the sky.

Campfires and water levels

It's funny that just last week we were starting to talk about how dry it was. Now it feels like the rain just keeps coming although we certainly haven't had as much as southern Ontario or Manitoba. All this rain is good news for a couple of reasons.

For starters it means there is no fire ban yet this year. So when you are thinking about your houseboat vacation plan to relax around a campfire while enjoying marshmallows and bannock or hobo pies. There are fire pits at most campsites and dead falls and branches which can be cut up for firewood. Make sure your water buckets are ready to put out any flames that may escape. When you have a campfire please be sure you put it out ... and then put it out again so that there are no coals to flare up and cause problems after you have left.

A lot of people have been asking how high the water levels are this year. Lots of rain this spring means that the water levels are normal for this time of year. That is good news since last year was so dry and many shoals were surprisingly close to the surface. For those of you who have been coming for years this means that you can go to all of your favourite haunts without worrying about what surprise rocks might be lurking just below the surface. For those who are new to Lake Temagami this means that the shoal maps are accurate, making navigation easier.

The rain combined with cool nights means that the water has taken longer to warm up and the smallmouth bass spawn is later than usual. The little guys in our boat ramp have just risen up off the nest. So although bass season opened on Saturday it would be wise to not fish the shorelines for them just yet since they are still protecting their little ones from predators.

Of course lots of rain also means that there are some bugs around but bring your bug jackets, citronella and bug spray and you'll still be able to enjoy being outside.