Latest Inductees to the Camp Comfort Hall of Fame*
Hi Tom,
I wanted to share our experience at your lovely cottage
with our family.
For us to truly experience peace and quiet and to garner the full experience
of your cottage, I asked our family to give up technology for 2 weeks. This
meant cell phones, tv, dvds, games and internet.
I believe the experience was a huge success, but I wanted to provide you
and perhaps your future clients with some insight into our experience. So,
let's start with how we got there. Firstly, I think my family is very typical.
Both my husband and I work in high tech and both own laptops and blackberries.
Our children are 13 and 10. Our 13 year old is very typical, she has a cell
phone, unlimited texting plan, uses facebook and loves to puruse youtube.
My 10 year old is pretty typical boy, he loves tv, cartoons, movies and
gaming.
As we got closer to the date of arrival at the cottage, I began to introduce
the kids to the idea that this vacation would be unique, we would not be
using any technology. My husband and I agreed to give up our BB and not
bring our laptops and I would ask the kids to do similar and it was agreed.
Interestingly, we didn't get any push back really, a couple of "really",
but I explained how I wanted us to have a family vacation and this would
be part of it.
Once we arrived, the entire cottage had so many interesting things to do.
Whether it was the trampoline, fish/frog pond, kayaks, sail boat, swimming,
hot tub or sauna, we used them all. Also, the kids played a lot of games,
they played risk, careers, scrabble or yautzee. As a family, every evening
we either had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows or we played cards (Wizard),
star gazed or all three. I wanted the kids to share in the meals, so I asked
them about their favourite dinner and we would make it together or I would
supervise. Each had 2 dinners to be responsible for. Even the chief cook
should get a vacation!
I will say that 2 weeks slipped by, the kids never asked for tv or the internet
and in fact, I think I heard I'm bored perhaps once or twice by my 10 year
old only and that was more about getting his Mom or Dad to play cards with
him. Then, we would whip out the cards and play some war or crazy 8s or
go for a canoe ride and the next thing you know, it was time for a a meal
or sauna or hot tub. We had lively debates and discussions over breakfast
and as the week progressed, each meal would simply arrive at it's own time.
Sometimes dinner wouldn't be done till 8 or 9 at night, but when you aren't
getting up early, the whole day seems to shift later and we didn't bother
watching the clock.
We definitely had a few rainey days, but we just played games or read books.
My husband and I even squeezed in a nap, commonly referred to as quiet time
for everyone. It meant you could play games, read, trampoline, take the
dogs for a walk, but no swimming or boating.
Also, my 2 small dogs were a source of entertainment for everyone. They
would jump on the kayaks to go for a ride and fetch sticks from the lake.
Also we walked them down the railroad tracks and often the kids would take
them for a walk.
All in all, everyone thoroughly enjoyed our time at your beautiful cottage.
No one ever mentioned tv or internet, although on
the ride home it was mentioned that they were looking forward to watching
a movie when they returned to Ottawa. I definitely had a few emails to get
through, but surprisingly, when your entire team knows you are going to
be out of range for email or phone (ok a little white fib) everything managed
to work itself out.
It was a great vacation, thank you for sharing your wonderful cottage with
our family. We hope to see you again next year.
PS, the wine was greatly appreciated and enjoyed.
* The Camp Comfort Hall of Fame is in no way affiliated with the
other Camp Comfot activity : The
Society for the Advancement of Dreamers and Visionaries
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