Camping

We went camping for 3 days in August and we LOVED it.

I set up the tent while the kids explored.  We had such a beautiful campsite.



The creek/river right by us.



Megan with her "rock doll house."



Tyler



Emily



We had a fallen log right by our campsite.  Megan and Tyler



We also had a little creek flowing right by our campsite.  Emily



Enjoying dinner--hamburgers and chips (Megan, Emily, Tyler)



The kids and I arrived a few hours ahead of Darrell so the kids had to show him their "hideout" down  by the river.  It was obviously easier for shorter people to make through.



Enjoying some s'mores.



Emily, Megan and Tyler--we had little boxes of cold cereal for breakfast.



We went on a short hike.



Stopping to take a break--Tyler,  Megan, Emily



We stopped where the water trickled down the mountainside through the rocks.

Tyler



Emily



Megan



Big rocks are ALWAYS fun to climb.



While the kids did exploring, I did some "light reading." ;)  It actually was a pretty interesting book about PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) within the school setting.




The campsite next to ours had a swing!  We were able to go play on it after the first night's campers left and before the 2nd night's campers showed up.  It was a little freaky at first to swing out over the receding mountain and get really close to a tree, but after awhile everyone was fighting over a chance to swing.  (I had to bring the old timer out to keep it fair.)

Emily





Megan





Tyler





Darrell had a blast too.



We loved having the river right next to us.  We enjoyed this part of the river while the nearby campsite was empty.

Emily



Megan



Tyler





The only way I get in photos





The kids all had to try climbing in this hollowed out tree trunk.







It became a contest to see who could find the biggest rock and make the biggest splash. 





Here they are all huddled around Darrell as he threw in a huge rock and they all got soaked.



We took shelter under the trees while it sprinkled a little.



Tyler headed down to his clubhouse



Roasting hotdogs.



This is Darrell's ingenious way of roasting the hotdogs.



You can see Megan and Tyler, but Emily is hidden. She completely rolled off her mat in the night and slept "on the ground" between mat and Tyler.



Breakfast of pancakes before getting ready to pack up and head home. :(



We had such a great time camping.  There is something about being with my family up in the mountains that makes my spirit sing. 

Emily, me, Megan and Tyler



Emily, Darrell, Megan and Tyler



Darrell and the kids played "hide and seek" right before we left.  Here is Darrell hiding.



On a side note, this campsite was the same one Darrell, Tyler and I camped at with my brother Derek and his wife Tansy 7 years ago.  It brought back lots of great memories.  (And yes, I'm wearing the same sweats and sweatshirt as I am in the above picture.  And yes, camping IS more enjoyable with 3 big kids, rather than one little one who could only crawl in the dirt and who didn't want to take naps.)