by mom blogger, Tracy Ashley

Isn’t it amazing how one small decision can change things. How saying yes to life and fun can lead to new opportunities. A few weeks back we made the decision to go camping with friends of ours and their kids.

Little did we know that we’d be exposing ourselves to a whole new adventure with new friends.

Within the first few moments of arriving at the campsite as we were just beginning to unpack, a little boy came along and introduced himself and jumped right in with the kids. Linus, pronounced “Leenus” turned out to be visiting Nova Scotia from Switzerland for five weeks with his family. Later that day we met his parents and two older brothers. Almost instantly they became part of our camping group. Over the next two days we bonded over water fights, campfires, rainy lawn games and beverages. We learned that they had lived in Nova Scotia a few years back for a year. We learned about their families, country, work, and their travels. Aidan was particularly taken by them speaking German and got them to teach him a few phrases. They were so impressed with his interest they ended up giving him their English-German pocket dictionary, with a nice inscription, so he could learn more.

When it was time to leave the campground our other friends headed right home with stomach bugs. Not being in any hurry ourselves, we stayed with our new friends and made our way to a beach that they knew well from when they lived here. That afternoon we chatted and walked and planned on meeting up with them before they headed back home.

Over the next two weeks we had them up for a lobster boil and a sleepover, went mud sliding with them, went on a tour of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, introduced them to laser tag, and met a bunch of their friends at their going away party.

It was a great experience to meet them and learn so much about them and their life in such a short time. It was also nice to introduce our boys to new people with completely different experiences and language. I don’t know if we’ll ever be brave enough to do what they did and pick up their whole life for a year and go to a new country, but I think any time we travel or the boys meet people from other places it helps to open up their worlds just a little bit more.

When our friends left last week they entrusted us with their beloved Swedish lawn game of Viking Chess, on the condition we share regular pictures of us playing it. We’re also seriously talking about visiting them in Switzerland sometime. All of this because we said yes to a camping trip!

We’re heading out for another weekend of camping soon. I’m looking forward to it but I know in the back of our minds we’re all thinking it’ll be hard to beat the last one. But, who knows who or what adventures are waiting for us at Twin Shores – stay tuned!

Tracy is a self-employed Mom of two boys, trying to get it right the first time. By day, helping companies tell their stories through words, media and events. By night, navigating the world of Lego, Minecraft and Harry Potter.