The Camp

For those who don't know, in about 4 weeks Dan and I will be moving to my parents' "camp" for a few months. I say "camp" loosely because really it's more of a rustic little house. It's fully winterized, has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (well, used to), a full kitchen, fireplace, living room, phone, satellite TV, everything you could need to live (except for one thing-more on that later.) They bought it about 2-3 years ago as a place to get away, and we've been in love with it ever since. I've talked about it many times over the years and our visits there, but now we're going to be the first permanent residents since they bought it from the old folks that called it home (ha!).

The idea first came up of us living there late last year when we were trying to decide how we were going to manage moving and having a baby at the same time. We were worried (and rightly so) that we weren't going to have a chance or be able to find an apartment in Sussex in the middle of winter before we moved, so we were trying to think of solutions and I casually brought up the idea of us living there until we could get ourselves settled in NB. My parents only use it during the weekends in the winter, and hadn't been using it much lately, so I thought it might be ok. As the months went by, the idea became more and more ideal for us (and as it turned out, quite necessary, since my bed rest has not allowed me any opportunities to look for an apartment). My parents were extremely gracious in agreeing to let us use the place, so now it's been settled and we'll be living there next month!

There are so many great things about this plan, the most important being that Dan and I and the baby will truly be 'getting away from it all' to hibernate for the rest of the winter (we're planning on staying there until May). It'll just be the 3 of us (+ Shimi), out in nature, bonding and enjoying (and struggling through) our new lives with a newborn. Dan will be off work so he'll be there to help me and we can re-focus on what matters. I'm also hoping that by being out there I'll get a better sense of what I want for our future and what kind of life we want to live. I'm going to try to keep things as simple as possible while I'm out there, so we're not bringing a lot with us, just the basics we need to get by for a few months, and that's it. We're still debating whether we should get Internet or not, if we end up choosing not to have it then I think the 'withdrawal' from the online world will do me wonders (not saying that I wouldn't prefer having it, I would, but I think it would be good for me not to have it at the same time).

There will be other advantages as well (being rent-free for a few months will definitely help), but at the same time it's not all going to be easy. While we'll be closer to our parents and friends by living there as opposed to Halifax, we're still at least 30 mins away from the nearest town, meaning that getting groceries and supplies will be a once-a-week occurrence, something we're not used to at all. There's also the added 'risk' that if something goes wrong, we're far away from help/the hospital, etc. We might not get as many visitors because of the distance, which means less help too. Also, the winters out there can be way rough (it's kind of up in the hills), there's always a ton of snow so Dan will have to make sure to keep our driveway as clear as possible in case we ever need to get out in a hurry, and our car will have to be super winterized (studs, etc), just to make it out. I'm really hoping the winter starts to let up by the time we get there, but in past years the snow hasn't completely melted until nearly May, so unfortunately it's not going to be as pretty/wonderful as the pics I'm showing. We'll be cooped up and will probably get a bit of cabin fever, but at the same time I know we'll be busy enough just surviving that it shouldn't be too bad. There's also the practical problem of there not being a washer and dryer available, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a fairly affordable set to bring with us, so that's not too much of an issue.

Overall though we're both really looking forward to it (even Dan, which surprised me, he's actually looking forward to having 1) chopping wood, 2) keeping the fire going, and 3) clearing the driveway, as his main jobs), and I think that we'll remember our 'cabin time' with fond memories.

And if we're lucky we'll get some of this too (I highly doubt it though).

(All pics of the camp are from this past Fall, and 2 summers ago.)

Hope you all have a great weekend!
G.