Day two dawned bright and early as the sunlight filtered through the tent and the birdsong-alarm-clock rang out. Ariadne was awake and fussy and would need a bottle quickly. Roman was out cold.
We slithered out of our low profile tent with the baby and left Roman to sleep. I paced with the baby while Daniel started up the biolite (best back-country camp stove) and boiled some water.
It wasn’t long before a terrified cry came from the tent.
“MOMMY!”
“I’m here Roman!” I called back, “We are all right here.”
I went over and opened the zippers for him.
“Why did you just leave me in the tent?” His sad eyes and accusatory tone enough to crush any mother’s heart.
“Because you were asleep and we didn’t want to wake you up and make you grumpy.” I told him.
“Oh! Ok! I have to pee.” And just like that, sad eyes gone, blissful, wilderness energy back.
Over the course of the morning Dan fought his hangry nature while he waited for bacon to cook and suffered through having his tea spilled not once, not twice but four times. Roman was content to dip his toes and wander about the campsite. On this trip he ate everything we gave him with no complaints. It is amazing what happens when kids are too hungry to care and know that there is no other alternative waiting in the cupboard.
We had bacon wraps for breakfast which were amazing but because we were in the back-country we had to eat all the bacon. Packing up full of bacon while herding the two small children away from hazards was making everyone a bit testy. Then I remembered the carrier. Ariadne got strapped in and we were able to move much faster.
We were in the canoe and on the water by 8:00am. The lake was like glass, clouds reflecting in the deep blue water. It looked as if we were paddling through the sky. The kids were holding it together and we were headed just a short way to the first portage.
And then my husband dropped a bomb.
Apparently today’s portion of our journey would include no less than five portages….
FIVE PORTAGES! WITH CHILDREN! WITH REALLY YOUNG CHILDREN AND A CRAP LOAD OF STUFF!
I was rocking maybe 3 hours of sleep after a long day of driving and canoeing and an early morning with a baby who was screamier than usual and now I find out that we are portaging five times!
We got to the first portage which was really more of a small grassy area between two lakes. Ariadne had just fallen asleep of course so we had to wake her and set her on the soggy ground, confused and crying in order to move the canoe.
I was getting frustrated and feeling like I just wanted to head back now. It was feeling like this would be way more work than fun and I was furious that this was the first time I was hearing about all of the portages we were planning to undertake.
On the other side we paddled in relative silence other than the now inconsolably screaming baby. It was getting a bit brutal. Then she fell back asleep. You would think this would be a good thing but we were nearly at the next portage.
We needed to make the most of the early morning calm. So we made our way to the second portage of the day. The first real portage. I felt overwhelmed. The children were crying, I was hungry. We unloaded the canoe and there was definitely enough stuff to warrant two trips and…I had a princess moment. I huffed and complained and blamed Daniel for not thinking about the reality of doing this kind of trip with children.
I gave myself a moment and then I noticed Roman watching me. He was trying to decide if he was enjoying himself, he was trying to decide if canoe camping was fun, he was trying to decide if a bit of discomfort and struggle were worth the amazing places we get to see and the adventures we get to have, and I was ruining it for him.
I took a deep breath and asked Daniel what his plan was. He told me to carry Ariadne and a backpack along with some life jackets and take Roman with me and he would deal with the rest.
I got set up and we headed off down the trail. We were headed uphill through a small stretch of trees. There was a light breeze keeping the bugs at bay I was working on changing my attitude. We got to the other side and set up a picnic lunch and I started feeling better. The portage had not taken very long and it was all working fine. We all felt better after lunch and as we reloaded the canoe I apologized for being a whiny bitch and we were back on track.
It was a good thing that I got over my portage related anger then because what was to come would have been impossible if I had kept the defeatist mind set. Ariadne continued to have a tough day. Every time she fell asleep we had to wake her up again so the sound track to my day was less easy listening and more scream-o. 
But we sang songs and played Roman’s favourite story-telling game, “yes, and…,” and got through another portage fairly easily. Roman and Ariadne had fallen asleep before this one and we floated for a while enjoying the quiet and letting them recharge a bit. Eventually though we needed to move on. Ariadne woke up as we pulled up to the portage and seemed fairly content. Roman was distraught. I used my favourite distraction technique called, “spotting a kestral.” I picked this up from a parenting article once and it generally works. Basically you just notice something that is interesting and you do it in such a way that they don’t realize you are trying to distract them.
At this portage someone had made a ladder between the two trees so I ignored Roman’s wails of grief and turned away from him towards the ladder, then I simply said, “huh? That’s strange. Someone has made a ladder out of these trees. Roman did you see this?”
It worked. He came over to see, wanted to climb up, and by the time we were set to handle the third portage of the day he was chattering away and happily skipping down the trail.
Back in the canoe and on our way. We quickly came to the fourth portage of the day. Or what used to be the fourth portage. Because this is crown land the trails are not managed and this one was in need of some TLC. We poured on the bug spray and headed off down down stream, over logs and through bog. We were truly bushwhacking now. You could just make out where the path was supposed to run. My four year old made me so proud! He was a bit scared at times and got a bit scraped at others. He was wet and the bugs were biting. It was uncomfortable but he gritted his teeth and got it done. When we got to the end he felt so proud. He told me it was kind of scary and I told him about bravery and how doing something even though you are scared is how you know you are truly brave. Just like a super-hero.
I took a moment while we waited for Dan to bring up the rest of the gear to feel truly thankful for the chance to allow my kids to take risks and know that they can accomplish things that are difficult.
Heading towards the final portage of the day we both felt like it couldn’t be any worse than the last one.
We were wrong. This one too had been left to become overgrown and was complete with fallen trees and patches of boggy ground. It also included some lovely streams and pools of water whose bottoms were full of large slippery stones and debris. Roman was panicking about leaches and the water was up to his thighs. He froze and could not move forward. I looked him in the eyes and said, “If you don’t start moving right now there will be no marshmallows tonight. You can do this, just like you did the last one.”
You could see the resolve in his little body. His back straightened, his chin lifted and he reached for my outstretched hand. I grabbed his tiny fingers and he stepped down into the water. We moved forward quickly, not daring to stop now in case he froze up again and made it out of the worst of it and onto a muddy grassy path. I breathed a sigh of relief that this was the last portage of the day and hugged my big brave boy tight.
Cue the thunder.
Clouds had gathered and the wind was picking up. We paddled hard singing into the wind and hoping that the rain drops we were feeling would not turn into a deluge. We donned our rain gear just in case and made a final big effort to reach the island we would be spending the night one. We were now on Versaille Lake. A very large lake which is home to fishing camps and several private cabins but still largely isolated. We made it to our island campsite and the rain stopped.
Roman was exited to explore the island, we were excited to eat. The evening was warm and calm. We got brave enough for a quick swim in the frigid water, roasted marshmallows and watched the wind move the giant wind sock on the island slowly shift from side to side. A little silly time in the tent and then our two very tired munchkins drifted off to sleep to recitations from memory of Robert Munsch and where the wild things are and softly sang lullabies.
The Yellow Canoe 