It’s the 24th of May…

It's the 24th of May and we likes to get away
Up in the woods or going out the bay
There's all kinds of places but the place we likes to get
Is up on the highway in the gravel pits.
Written by: Wayne Chaulk
Performed and Recorded by ‘Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers’

Newfoundland and Labradorians have a tradition that I would like to share: gravel pit camping. It is such a strong tradition that one of my all time favourite Newfoundland and Labrador bands, ‘Buddy Wasisname and The Other Fellers’, wrote a song about it. You really should give this a listen to. As an aside, I love ‘Buddy Wasisname’ for many reasons not the least of which is that, if you ever go and see them in concert and are not from this province, you are going to spend most of the concert elbowing the representative Newfoundland and Labradorian next to you for a translation. I love that I am from a place that has such a strong dialect that people often do not understand what we are saying (e.g. National news reporters interviewing someone from the province have been known to use subtitles for the interviews so that the rest of Canada understands). Heck, we even have our own dictionary!

Gravel pit camping is something I did as a child and as an adult. Keeping in mind our love of gravel pit camping, I would like to introduce you to our new cottage.

Look familiar?

Due to the fact that we are now living in a new build, we are also living in a gravel pit. I was rather surprised not to see other campers in for the night over the May 24th weekend!

DH and Iain have spent a couple of nights in the van in our backyard over the past few weekends. It is a great way to get Iain used to sleeping in the van before our first away from home camping trip (Aidan is pretty much going to sleep anywhere as long as Mommy is around) and, generally, Iain doesn’t even wake up cranky from van night sleeping (having Iain not cranky is something we strive for around here).

Here he is having a morning granola bar with Daddy and discussing whatever important things toddler boys discuss with their Daddies first thing in the morning.

Beautiful.