Canada, Eh?

We got to take a quick trip to Canada, sans kids, back in July.  It was a whirwind of a trip!!!!

Here were our travel details:
4 hour drive to Ocala
1.5 hour drive to Orlando
3 hour flight to Minneapolis, MN (spend the night)
2 hour flight from Minneapolis, MN to International Falls, MN
Cross the boarder
1 .5 hour drive to the Island House
15 minute boat ride to the Island House (spend the night)
Spend the day/night
15 minute boat ride to the mainlan
2 hour flight north on a float plan
(get caught in a wicked thunderstorm- emergency land on a semi-random lake, spend 2 hours with strangers who are becoming more and more inebreated)
15 minute float plan flight to the lake house (after the emergency landing)- spend the night
Spend the day/night
2 hour float plane ride south to Nestor Falls, Ontario
2 hour drive south (cross the boarder)
2 hour plane ride south to Minneapolis
3 hour plane ride south to Orlando
1.5 hour drive north to Ocala (crash at a hotel because we can't bare the thought of any more travel or driving 4 hours home in the middle of the night)
4 hour drive back hom

I mean...that is some serious traveling!

Now, let's look at the pictures and enjoy the memories :)

We had to think of a way to bring Twinkie to Ocala while also being able to break down his cage.  So, Nicole came up with this portable Twinkie carrier, haha.

I wanted the kids to see how cold it was outside, and how fast our plane was going.

This was our second plane ride...a little 6 passenger prop plane.  It was actually way more smooth than I anticipated.  

I got the back seat.  Jeremy always gets the front.  I loved it!

I don't know if I was allowed to take the photo, but I did.  I know, I'm such a rebel!

 The view from our room in the Island House.  I could wake up to that every morning.  So pretty.

The only way to get to our friends' home is via boat when the lake is thawed.  During the winter, you can drive to the house on the ice!  Um...I'll stick with summer visits.  

A boat ride is fun every now and then...but I'm not sure I could make it my daily commute, haha. 

This ride was fun though. 

It was blueberry season!  I got to pick wild blueberries, and it was so much fun (and super tasty too!)

I also enjoyed a little time reading and relaxing.  Honestly, I wasn't sure what to do with myself without my little people running around, asking me questions, and making messes.

I believe we were riding to dinner :)

This was the interior of the dinner lodge.  It was full of fishermen.

The view of the sunset as we rode back to the house.  It was probably close to 10 at night.

This was the float plane for our ride north.  It was a large planes because we were taking a lot of supplies.

They let me sit up front since it was my first time.  I've always wanted to be a pilot.  This was as close as I've come.  It was SO cool!

So, this is a glimpse of the storm.  We flew around one severe storm, but couldn't get around the second.  So, we landed on what seemed to be a random lake, however there was a cabin there that is owned by the plane company.  

So, we stayed with a group of strangers who were on a secluded lake for a week of fishing.  The storm raged outside (lots of lightning, hail, and wind), and the people inside kindly offered us food and drinks.  We thought we would only be there a few minutes, or else I think we would have all taken them up on their offer.  

Two hours later....there was a break in the rain, and our pilot came in and said, "We've got to go.  NOW!!" hahaha.  So, we quickly grabbed our shoes, ran out to the float plane, and took off.  

It's crazy, this is just 30 miles away, on the other side of the storm.  Picture perfect!  By the way, float planes are amazing!

The sunset on the lake.

This was the sunrise on the lake.  I woke up around 5:15 to take some pictures...and then went back to bed :)

Today was the big fishing day!  Jeremy and I got to go out on the lake with a guide and fish for most of the day.  It is a rather large lakes, with lots of fun nooks and cranies.  And, we were the ONLY people on the lake.  The only ones!  No one else has a place here.  It's pretty unreal to think about it.  

We caught Walleye first.  We probably caught (and released) about 40.  We kept our limit for dinner though ;)

This was the first fish I caught. I was too afraid to hold him.  But, I tried to pucker up and give him a kiss.

The fish got bigger as the day went on.

Jeremy was even getting sweet with a fish too.

I would not consider myself a fisherman by any stretch of the imagination, but this was super fun!  We would drop the line, and the fish would bit within second.  Who doesn't like that?

So, I decided to be brave and hold a fish.  I did fine, until it moved.  I then proceeded to throw the fish across the boat and scream like a little girl, haha.  Check out the fish in the bottom left corner.  I don't think he liked learning to fly.

2nd try, with a smaller fish.  I was able to hold this one nice and tight.  

Look at my fish!!!

Once we were done, we proceeded to filet the fish.  I saw "we".  I didn't do a thing.  I think Jeremy filleted one or two.  The guide did the rest.

The view from the fish filet station, about a mile from the camp.  We didn't want raw fish smells near our cabin, in case it lures the local bears in...

I think I could hold that fish! ha!

And, here is dinner!  I don't think I have ever, not once in my life, caught fish, filleted it, then fried it for dinner just hours later.  I'm not much of a fish eater...but this Walleye was excellent!  I hate a third fillet.

We went hiking after lunch.  So, I am not a hiker, or an outdoorsy person. I pretend like I am, until I have to do it...and then I whine a lot.

Jeremy wanted to explore the land, since no one really has had a chance to yet.  I'm not a big fan of exploring unknown places without nice paths, where bears and snakes could be.  It was so scary and I really, REALLY tried hard not to whine and complain (I failed).

But, we finally made it up some large rocks.  It was almost rock climbing...almost.  But, I really wanted to be a "good wife", a "fun wife", so I kept going.  

This was a pretty view.

Can you see me?  Look how woodsy and adventurous I am.  I'm hidden in the grasses.

Jeremy- the great explorer

After our hike, we got to go fishing again.  This time, we decided to go all the way around the lake.  I am SO glad that we did.  The scenery was amazing!

I caught a Northern Pike.  I didn't want to hold this guy.  He was bigger.  He was slimy.  And he had sharp teeth.  I was happy with a picture.

I think Jeremy really enjoyed this afternoon of fishing.

He caught several Northerns.  This was probably the biggest one.

Jeremy had a fish jump out of his hands too!   I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I do know that out of the end of it, I had Northern Pike poop on my pants, and I almost jumped out of the boat, once again screaming like a little girl.  

This is the top of a waterfall.  The lake on the other side is at least 20 feet lower than the lake we are on.  So, we pulled up to a little "path" and went to check it out.  Of course, I whined my down, while also winding my way down....ha. ha. ha.

It was beautiful and well worth the side trip.  

I was still afraid of bears ;)

 Another beautiful sunset on the lake.

And, one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen.  It was a stunning way to start our day of crazy travel home.  

On our way back, it was just the pilot, Jeremy, and me, so we were on a much smaller float plane.  I loved it.  The flight back was really rough though, so I don't think Jeremy liked it too much.  Our pilot was really young, but I felt confident that he knew what he was doing.  I really enjoyed his flying and "playing" in the clouds.  

With our friend, Phil and Nancy.  Thanks for inviting us up!

I enjoyed trying to find shapes in the lakes we flew over.  I thought this one looked like India.

It was a whirlwind of a trip, but also fun.  I enjoyed fishing with Jeremy and going somewhere completely new and interesting.

My Hurricane Survival Tips (outside of the 'normal' stuff they tell you to do)

Our town just suffered a direct hit by Category 3, Hurricane Irma.  This was one big, bad storm!  It shattered hurricane records (longest sustaining Cat 5, lowest pressure, largest windfield, etc.)  10 days before landfall, the Hurricane Center was predicting a direct hit to our area of Florida. 

  However, experience has told me that when you are in the center of the “cone of uncertainty” 10 days in advance, it’s generally a good thing, because that cone will significantly move. Whelp…I was wrong this time.  Although some models wanted it to move to the east coast, the storm had its sights set on Southwest Florida.

About 5 days before the storm, we got into serious storm prep mode.  We chose to stay ( see other blog posts about that decision), and so I wanted to make sure we could take care of our family for 10 days without needing any help.  10 days…that is what stuck in my mind.  Looking back….I think we did a pretty good job preparing, and we were fully self-sustaining for 10 days. 

Hurricane Preparation Tips (in no particular order)

1.  Freeze bags of water: Each day for 5 days, I would fill 2 gallon sized zip lock bags with water, and then freeze it.  The idea behind this is…the more full your freezer is, the longer it will stay cold.  AND….that huge block of ice will be welcomed cold water a few days after the storm.  I had never done this before, so I wasn’t sure how it would work….but it was perfect!  I truly believe this one prep tip made a HUGE difference.  Our freezer was cold three and a half days after our electricity went out.  Our food was still frozen, because it was surrounded by these blocks of ice.  We tried not to open the freezer door.

2.  Cook all of your meat:  I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad idea…but, I figured it couldn’t hurt.  I cooked all of my meat before the storm.  This meant no raw meat the fridge or freezer to worry about (or stink up).  I put all of my frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot, threw some seasoning on top, and let it cook all day long.  Then, I shredded the chicken and portioned it into gallon size freezer bags.  I cooked about 4 pounds of ground beef and portioned it into freezer bags too.  I also made about 2 dozen meat balls, and again, put it into freezer bags.  Next time, I will make some hamgburgers too.  It was wonderful to have meat for dinners after working in yards all day.  The cooked meat defrosted quickly, and I cooked it over the side burner of our grill.  We had tacos, fajitas, soup, chicken & noodles, and more.

      3.  Fill all of our sports bottles and pitchers with water the morning of the storm.  We did this and used it for the first day, so as to not dip into our water supply.

  

      4. Empty your ice maker once your electric goes out.  I put mine in a cooler and had ice into the next morning 😊

      5. Work together: Make a plan with the family and work together.  Move all of your outdoor furniture inside, etc.

      6. Norwex Body Cloth:  This makes you feel fresh and clean when you can’t shower for two weeks.  Just a bit of water on your cloth, start with your face and then work your way down to the dirty areas last.  The kids and myself used a body cloth to stay clean (we each had our own) and it was amazing.  You NEED some of these!

      7.  Parked the truck in the garage, and filled the truck with items we really didn’t want to get wet.  I mean…crazy stuff would have had to happen to get through the garage  and then inside the truck. 

  

          8.  Have BOB (Bug Out Bag) ready:  We could have left at a moments notice before the storm hit (or after) because I did have clothes and important documents ready to go if we needed to leave in a moments notice.

       9. Pray & Praise:  The most awesome we thing we did as a family was create a Prayer and Praise wall for our “hunker down” corner.  Right after our electric went out, we sat around the table and started writing out scripture, prayers, and prayer requests.  We spent time in prayer for all of our friends and family, and in praise over our Lord.  We then taped this up on our bedroom wall and referenced it throughout the scary times of the storm. We have often went back and added to it as the weeks progressed.

     10. Have a “hunker down” corner.  We put our son’s twin mattress on the floor in our bedroom and made it “fun” for the kids.  It was like camping.  We had pillows and blankets, an ipad, our radio, etc.  During the eye wall, we sang together, we prayed together, and we listened too. But, it was a safe place for our family to gather and be comfortable.

There are obvious things you need to do to prepare….but I didn’t include those.  Of course, have your important documents handy, buy batteries, water, fill your vehicles with gas, etc.  These were just some extra things that I think really helped us.

What we wish we had, but didn’t.

     Generator: Honestly, didn’t even cross my mind.  God provided (more in another post)

     Chainsaw: We stayed to help…but quickly realized that we needed a chainsaw to help.  God provided (more in another post)

      Baby Wipes:  These will become a hurricane kit staple.  It would have been so nice to have that to wipe our hands with. 

      Extra underwear and socks:  Because, it gets gross when you can’t do laundry.  ‘nuff said.