March Break 2016

This was the first year in over decade that Melissa had the week off for March Break. So, we made plans to go to Marten River this year so that we could enjoy some winter since our winter this year sucked. The longest time snow stayed on the ground this year was a week and we probably shovelled the driveway 4 times. The only snow we had was because of a freezing rain storm.

Change of Plans

So, we planned to go right at the start of the break, but Melissa became quite ill on Thursday night and was stuck in bed until Sunday night. She rested on Monday and we headed up on Tuesday instead. We arrived late Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.

Snowshoeing and Snowman

We spent the week there snowshoeing on the trails that Aaron, Steven and Shauna had made in the fall and throughout the winter. On the trails, there were 3 bird feeders for the kids to feed the birds. The birds were so used to humans that they ate right out of the kids hands. That was pretty awesome!!! We also played in the yard and Aiden and I made a snowman that Aiden really wanted to make anatomically correct 🙂 On the last day, I went for a walk with Steven and Aaron on the trails. As the result of a rain earlier in the week and then a quick freeze there was a crust across the top of the snow so we did not need our snowshoes. We walked for about 2 1/2 hours in areas of the forest and across some of the marshes that Aaron had never been to. The highlight were the 2 extremely old white pines that we were able to get to (see pictures below). It was incredibly majestic and humbling to look up at these trees.

Abby and Aiden feeding the birds on the snowshoe trails

Dogs

Marley and Lindy absolutely loved spending time with Lila. They all got along great. Marley and Lindy thought they were at the dog park everyday. On one day, Lindy even heard a dog across the river at the RockPine and took off across the river, getting about 150ft before coming back.

Winterfest

On the Saturday of the trip, we went to the 14th annual Marten River Winterfest. We were joined by Aaron and Chantale, Steven (they all came up on Fri night), Joyce and Al. We all went for the breakfast and then the kids started playing kids games. The games included magnet fishing, bottle fishing, minnow races, gummy worm eating, pin the fin on the fish scavenger hunt, etc.) Part way through he games, Abby went home with Joyce and Al because she was not feeling well due to a cold that had been nagging her for days. The most interesting was tea boiling, which is were Aiden and I got a coffee can with a an inch of water and a bag with sawdust, matches and kindling. When they said go, we had to build a fire and boil our kettle, with the first one to boil it declared the winner. While we got ours to boil, we did not win, but we had a lot of fun trying. Aiden spent the afternoon playing outside with some new friends while Chantale, Melissa and I participated in some activities inside.