Best family camping trip EVER

We wanted one more family camping trip before storing the popup camper for the winter, so last weekend we headed out to West Canada Creek Campsites in Poland, NY. It was our first visit to that campground and we chose it because of its location - just outside of Utica - and excellent online reviews. It took just an hour and fifteen minutes to drive there and although we had to set up in the dark, we soon had the camper open and a campfire burning.

What a great weekend we had. The campground is very nice; the owners are friendly and helpful, the bathrooms are spotless, there is a large open area in which children can play and the sites are spacious and flat:

Aidan soon made friends and played football, kickball, soccer and everything else under the sun. The campground is set in a bend in West Canada Creek, so James had easy access for fishing:

Aidan joined James for some dad and son fishing time:

I was happy to stay at the campsite where I read Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton (one of my favorite authors) cover-to-cover, knitted and enjoyed the splendor of autumn in New York:

The weather was spectacular. The days were warm and sunny, and the nights were cool but not freezing, just cold enough to enjoy the campfire (and the heated mattresses in the camper!). We feasted on sausage gravy over buttermilk biscuits for breakfast on Saturday morning, hot dogs cooked over the fire for lunch, and steak shish kebabs and campfire cones for dinner. After packing up on Sunday morning, we stopped at a nearby diner for a hearty breakfast before making the short drive home.

The combination of excellent campground in a great location, fun together and fun apart in our own activities, and lovely fall weather made us all agree that it was our best family camping trip ever.

A place of his own

While Aidan and I were visiting my family in Michigan, James put the finishing touches on Aidan's treehouse:

 

In addition to being a place where Aidan can spend time alone or with friends, it is a work of art and the subject of much envy. 

Aidan has long wanted a tree house and I told James that if we were ever going to build one, it needed to be soon before Aidan gets too old to be interested in playing in a tree house. And while we have a line of trees on the border between our house and the house next door, it really wasn't feasible to build a tree house in a tree. We decided to build a freestanding structure near the trees and broke ground on April 27:

James - with assistance from Aidan and me - worked on it from late spring through the summer, with breaks for weather, vacation, camping trips and the MacKenzie-Childs barn sale. As the tree house took shape, we became accustomed to cars driving slowly by the house so the occupants could get a better view, walkers would stop to talk with James and ask about rent (!), and a photo even appeared on Instagram, although none of us have Instagram accounts.

This is not a plywood box on stilts; James took great care to make it sturdy and as weather proof as possible with shingled walls and a real roof. The windows have shutters that open out:

 

Inside there is a small shelf, a coat hook and a bench that provides storage and seating:

The storage bench also makes for a great place to hide:

One day Aidan got in, pulled the lid down and scared the life out of James, who did not know he was in there!

James added railing caps that have solar powered lights:

Glass blocks near the peak at either end also have small solar lights, which make the tree house look great even at night:

In case of a zombie apocalypse, you know where to gather:

The view from the front porch is beautiful:

 

We put a lock on the door and the ladder can easily be removed and stored in our garage, so that the tree house doesn't get occupied when we are not around. About the only things this marvelous tree house does not have are electricity and plumbing, but there is always next summer...