We have three children under three and have been going to Massasauga once a summer for the past few years. We thought we'd continue the tradition with our 2-1/2 old daughter (on her 3rd trip) and our 7-month old twins (their 1st trip). We paddle in from Three-Legged Lake, which with the portage (and children!) takes about 3-1/2 hours. We have the same site for two nights, and also have my parents, father-in-law and brother with us, which makes doing the trip with 3 children under 3 - and oh yeah, the dog - easier. Starting at about 6:30 am, after the little ones are fed, we finish packing the co-sleeper and cold food (having packed most of our gear the night before) and head out. With a couple of road-side potty stops, we get to Oastler to get our permits in decent time, then drive to the put-in (only one wrong turn!) and everyone else loads up the canoes. I was busy (breast)feeding and changing the twins, while the others take turns watching our daughter and the dog. 

I should note at this point that we were trying to make it to the site in time for our older daughter Bronwyn's only nap, and the twins' (Andrew and Gwenyth) second nap, but we didn't. Seeing as they are all on pretty good sleep schedules and are not overtired, they did pretty well with this relatively minor disruption. The weather was pretty good - cloudy but the rain only came once we were portaging, and as I needed to feed the twins again, the timing worked out very well. I managed to carry them in a snuggly/sling combo, and got a few comments on my skills from the other campers we saw. Tyga (dog) also made a friend while we waited out the rain. Bronwyn had a great time going in and out of the water and generally getting wet and filthy, a trend that continued all trip and that we were happy to encourage! After the rain, we paddled for another hour and half or so, and then I was on "mom duty" again while my husband set up our tent and cosleeper for the twins, and Bronwyn's little tent for her. Her tent was an old one of mine, one-man with a dome at the door so we folded the rest under and she slept in Brad's sleeping bag in my tent - pretty cute. 

I will admit that the evenings were a little difficult, as the three of them didn't fall asleep all that easily. However, they were all out by about 7 pm, and slept quite well both nights, even with the rain on our second night. It must be the fresh air and exercise/excitement! 

Dinner the first night was decadent for "canoe-camping" - we had steak and corn over the fire, courtesy of my parents! The next day was our only full day on site, and again, the kids were great. Bronwyn wandered (supervised) all over the place and played for hours in and near the water, and the twins played on our sleeping bag or were happily held by their older relatives. They napped really well too! The big success of the day was Tyga - she's a Lab-Boxer cross and we had not yet managed to convince her that water is for swimming and playing. But on that day, she did it! Only for a little, and with some hilarious out-of-water preparatory attempts, but she swam, and went in water past her chest - hurray the Lab half! 

My husband, brother and I all swam, separately, to the little island just off our site, and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself as I have not done any working out since I was about 5 months pregnant. I play ultimate and soccer once a week, but that's it. So yay me for all my paddling and swimming too! And it was really very nice to swim in a lake again. Another success was Brad's catch of the day - one bass to add to dinner, and to give the twins their "fish kiss" - kiss from a fish for lucky fishing for the rest of their lives. Bronwyn got hers on her first trip (she was nearly 6 months old). AND, a big one for me as I'm an ecologist, I saw a Five-Lined Skink! My brother saw one, I complained as he's seen one before and I haven't, then I saw one. Brad didn't believe me at first but I found it hiding and showed him so he had to cave. No Massasaugas yet though, so maybe next year.

Our campfire and dinner conversations were wide-ranging and entertaining, which is part of the fun of the trip. It's great to have the time to talk to your family without any "technological distractions". 

As I mentioned, it rained on our second night, from about 4:30 to 6:45 am. This messed with our pack-up and leave timing, so the kids all missed their naps again. Thank goodness for well-rested children though, because the crying was minimal. The twins did both sleep in the canoe, too. My brother laughed at me for all the lullabies I sang but hey, it worked.  We did get home well in time for bed time for everyone, after all the packing and paddling and portaging and feeding and diaper-changing and .... !

--a note for you parents, we used gDiapers because they have liners that really are disposable, and outers that are reusable. 

Our goals for the trip were fairly modest, as we mostly wanted to survive it; we got our children started or continuing on a family camping tradition, the twins got their fish kisses, Tyga swam, we spent time with our family, we saw wildlife, we camped clean.