Frogs And Snails And Fishing Tales, That's What Little Boys Dream Of

I had invited my friend Danielle to go camping with the girls earlier in the year. She had never been camping before. She loved it so much that she wanted to come back and bring her family with her.  So this was a special trip that we planned for her family who also had never been camping before. 

I decided to bring along my nephew's step-son, Hunter, who was roughly the same age as Danielle's son, Jay. I figured that the two boys would have a good time together. And I was right. 

Hunter and I arrived at the campsite and set up all the tents before Danielle's family arrived. We got the same site that I had camped on with my dog in 2018; site number 160.  It was about the same time of year too. The whole time I was setting up Hunter kept asking when Jay was going to get there. He wanted to show Jay how to fish and how to catch frogs. He couldn't wait. 

Finally Danielle and her family arrived. Immediately Jay and Hunter became friends. It was like they had known each other for years.  Within minutes they had their bathing suits on and buckets and nets in hand and were down at the beach looking for frogs. Jay had never caught a frog in his life but was eager to learn. 

Hunter caught the first frog and proudly showed it off to everyone. Danielle and her daughter, Nevaeh, gathered round to see it before Hunter took it back to the lake and set it free. 

Hunter was a good teacher because it wasn't long before Jay caught his first frog. He wasn't sure what to make of it at first. 

But it wasn't long before he decided that frog catching was the greatest thing ever! (Which is much better than the squirrels that he had told me he planned to catch before we got here!) 

With a new found hobby in common the two boys spent every waking moment thinking about catching frogs. They spent a whole lot of time at the beach on this trip. 

That first night was a beautiful night. We got the fire going and the kids had S'mores for the first time ever. They got to sleep in their brand new sleeping bags and they got to sleep in a tent. It was a lot of firsts for the family and they were loving it. 

The next morning I asked Danielle and Marvin, her husband, how they slept. Danielle slept on a big air mattress and aside form Nevaeh climbing in with her and stealing all the covers, she had slept well. Marvin, on the other hand, said that he was stiff from sleeping on the ground nd it hadn't been comfortable for him at all. That was when we realized that he didn't have a sleeping mat and had slept on the solid ground all night. I felt bad because the whole time, I had an extra mat with me and I could have given him one. So, I made sure that he had a good mat to sleep on for the next night. 

We checked the weather forecast and found out that we were supposed to get thunder storms and high winds later on in the day. But we had a few hours of nice weather before then. So we decided to do a hiking trail while the weather was still good.  We chose the Kag trail because it was within walking distance of our campsite. 

The Kag trail is 2 and a half kilometers long and has some moderately challenging upward climbs. But there is a look out at one point to make the climb worth while. 

The boys were excited and raced on up ahead. 

Even on the hike they brought their trusty yellow net with them for catching frogs and toads. The whole trip was all about the frogs. 

Up ahead Danielle and Nevaeh were checking out how tall the trees were. They were pretty tall.

The trail started out fairly flat, like a typical Ontario forest trail. 

But eventually we were in for some steep climbing. The kids had tons of energy and they loved the climbing. 

Danielle and I didn't have quite as much energy and we stopped for a quick break once we reached the top. 

At the top of the hill the trail went along the edge of a rock cliff. 

And of course what goes up must come down. 

We picked our way through the root entangled path. 

This part of the trail led to the lake. 

And what do you find in lakes? Well, frogs of course!  Even way out here on the trail the boys were ever on the look out for frogs. 

It wasn't long before we were making another up hill climb. 

At the top of this hill we were rewarded with a scenic view from the look out. It was a little over grown with trees but it was still nice enough. We stopped here to rest for a bit and we had a snack that we had brought along with us. 

The kids didn't sit still for long though. Soon we were on our way again. ​They never found any frogs on the trial but they did find a couple toads and that was close enough.

After our hike the wind was starting to pick up quite a bit but it was still nice out so we decided to have a picnic lunch down at the bigger beach on the opposite side of the lake from where our campsite was. Wesat at a picnic table and watched the Canada Geese swim by.  And what did the boys do while we were at the bigger beach? You guessed it. Frog hunting! 

While we ate, a little calligrapher beetle came to visit us. 

When we got back to our campsite later that afternoon, the wind had really picked up and the sky turned grey. The wind was strong enough that it had blown down one side of my tent. I ended up lashing the guy-lines to near by trees instead of staking them into the ground. This seemed to do the trick and my tent stayed up properly for the rest of the trip.

Before too long it had started to rain. Danielle, Marvin and Nevaeh took this opportunity to go and have a nap while I took the boys down to the boat launch to go fishing in the rain. 

At first they were standing pretty close to each other and were risking getting their fishing lines tangled up. So they decided to each take a side of shore. 

Jay did very well for his fist time fishing. 

And Hunter looked like he was born to fish.  They didn't catch anything but they had a fantastic time. They kept on fishing in the rain right up until the rods broke and the lines got tangled. Rather than getting upset about it,  they just switched to skipping stones in the water. And that eventually lead to throwing rocks in the water to see who could make the biggest splash. 

Eventually we got hungry and went back to the dining tent to eat a quick supper. Right after that they wanted to back to the beach to.... go frog hunting.  However, they had only been down at the beach for about 5 minutes when I saw lightning and I had to bring them back to the campsite and away from the lake. Besides, it was starting to get dark anyways.  

Soon we had a full blown thunderstorm happening. While Danielle, Marvin and Nevaeh stayed in their tent keep dry, the boys and I took refuge in the dining tent and occupied ourselves with games of dice and cards. 
The kids were not phased in the least by the storm. They were perfectly content just playing games by the light of the lanterns and flashlights. 

Eventually the rains and storm subsided and Danielle, Marvin and Nevaeh joined us for cards in the dining tent. The boys taught them how to play Snap and War. But they liked Go Fish the best. 

When the rain had completely stopped and it was time to get ready for bed, we took a trip up to the comfort station to brush our teeth and wash our hands and faces. 

The boys were thrilled to discover that just outside the door of the comfort station was a big ole toad. 

And they were even more thrilled to discover a frog there too. I am sure that they went to bed that night dreaming of frogs in their sleep!