Finlay's 6th Birthday

 

Linda arrived on the Friday afternoon and then was fully thrown into some mountain activity. On Saturday morning we gathered our clothes, camping supplies, food for an overnight camping adventure to Wild Cat Island for Finlay's birthday. Two other families came with us, Andrea and Lee, with Sola and Toben, and also Adrian and Kerry with Ben and Lucy. As we were 5 we borrowed a raft from our neighbour and packed it full of equipment and Birthday cake!!

 

 

 

We met at the Ghost Dam where we were to put in our boats, but due to the flood last year the access had been washed away and were left with a long way to carry our supplies over rocky ground. It was also nearing 30 degrees, so everyone  apart from the kids were feeling a bit exhausted. They had managed to find a pool of water to play in while we organised things.
Once we were on the water it felt a lot cooler and we enjoyed an hour and a half float down the Bow River. There were some sections with class one rapids and Heather and Finlay thoroughly enjoyed that as we rode them, and got splashed, with screams of excitement and wailing of laughter. Finlay especially was so excited and kept saying how cool it was and how happy he was that we were doing this for his birthday. I was very happy that we were in the raft as opposed to our canoe as I watched our friends bailing out their canoes with milk jugs!

Destination "Wild Cat Island"

 

On arrival at Wild Cat Island we unloaded the canoes and raft and then before setting up camp we took the opportunity to have some beer and nachos. I had my first beer in months, but hey it was a great reason to celebrate and break a restriction.

As the adults were sitting, talking and relaxing we suddenly realised how quiet it was to say that there were 6 kids of ours on the Island. However they were engrossed in making their own fun together, exploring, digging, water carrying and generally getting messy..... Fantastic!!

 



Been a few years since pitching this tent, thankfully no holes and no mold.

 

Dinners up.

 

Wot, no kids

 

Oh yes... how could we forget!!!

 



 

A birthday tradition for Finlay.... Bobbing for donuts.

 

 

A favorite for all the kids....toasted marshmallows.

 

 

And finally the highlight of the evening, Treasure island Birthday Cake, complete with dolphins, doubloons, treasure map, skull, candles made into palm trees and a hidden chocolate treasure chest within the cake filled with chocolate coins and rock candy.
Then all the adults waited to see how long it would take for the sugar rush to kick in... all of about 3 mins... Finlay began charging around, shouting in his loudest voice, brandishing his arms around in the long grass shouting out that he was the strongest man and going to punch down this tree and the long grass. He had turned into my little warrior, a proper little boy, a side that we don't get to see too often.
After another few games of "ruler of the world" and a team laughing game.

 

By sunset, the excitement of the day was slowly settling to exhaustion. Ready for a good night sleep.

 

Raring to go again at breakfast.

 

Once we fed everyone, broke camp, reloaded and re-launched for our final portion of the journey. Another 2 hour ride down the river. This time we had all 6 kids in the raft ready for the excitement of being soaked in the rapids. Mission accomplished.