I'm a little ashamed at how few pictures we took, well, maybe just how boring they are.... either way, at least I got a few and I'll have something to remember this campout by....
On Thursday afternoon after Nate crammed all of our heavily packed belongings into the tiny little bit of space we have left in our vehicle, we headed on out to Moon Lake Campground. Brent had spent the last month or so researching and planning our camping trip to Whitney Lake, and then after finding out that the place wasn't really roughed for camping (my kind of camping anyway, with toilets and drinking water), he had to change plans and found us a new place the day before we were supposed to leave! He sure deserves a pat on the back. And I still feel bad for being the reason we changed. Someone had to say something, and the thought of having to walk a quarter of a mile everytime someone needed to go to the bathroom..... anyway.... sorry, Brent. We got there just after a small rain storm, but didn't let that stop us from having fun the whole weekend!
Nate took Brent and the kids fishing and they all caught their first fish! Brent's was pretty thrilling for Nate :) considering the challenge :) I think Nate's still slightly disappointed that Brent didn't squeal with glee, but it's all good. He still has the satisfaction of being there for Brent's first :) The kids all lucked out as well. Heidi too! That was pretty exciting!!
We got to go out on Sarah's family's raft, that was probably my favorite part :). Brent, Sarah, Mom, Simon, Heidi, Brad, Charlie and I all went out on the lake on Saturday, and we got so far out there that when we turned around to head back, and the wind started picking up, we weren't sure we were going to make it back!! Pretty crazy!! We had so much fun laughing and joking though. Brent, Heidi and I all jumped in the freezing cold GLACIER FED lake!! It was so freezing, I could hardly breathe. It was lots of fun though. And we did make it back surprisingly!!!
We had lots of yummy food and treats, fun times around the campfire, rain, wind, played a game of cards with Sarah (if only we'd had more time to do that!!), sand castles, pushing the stroller around, crying, whining, sleeping!!! (I was actually amazed at how well all my kids slept!), and lots of new memories with my family. I really had a great time! I am very thankful that there were flushing toilets, and that they were only like 1/8 of a mile away from the camp (thanks again, Brent for all your hard work finding a site, sorry about Whitney Lake), and drinking water. Those things were very nice.
We had a LOT of squirrels (very agressive squirrels) all over the campground the entire time we were there. They were not intimidated by people in the least. They climbed on tables to get food, in cars!, you name it. And even though we saw one about once every 4 seconds, that didn't stop the kids (and Mom and Simon for that matter) from being excited about each one, and of course, feeding them! Kelly's favorite part of the campout was feeding/catching/following around the squirrels. She loves little creatures, this was a fun aspect of the campout.
We didn't bring the wii on our campout. I think this came as a surprise to Luke, and actually quite a let down. It opened my eyes to the fact that we need to stop playing it so much. I knew when we bought it that there would be a honeymoon period and that we would over use it and it would become excessive and that eventually we would need to start putting some serious limits on it. Well, we hit that point during our campout after one of Luke's whining fits about being bored and wanting to go home and play the wii. Thankfully we were able to pull him out of his bored little rut. He had a lot of fun on the raft, and on the walk with Daddy while mom was on the raft. And while he says his favorite part was "evwyfing" I think it was when Daddy rigged up the trap to catch a squirrel while we were taking things down. Luke sat there ever so patiently waiting to pull the string. I think he actually had one a few times, but no new pets to take home "unfortunately". Luke is funny how he has a hard time getting into things. And just for the record, we've been home for 5 days and still haven't turned on the wii! Feels good :)
Nate's had one thought the entire time and that was "gotta catch some fish". He got to go out a lot which I am happy about since it's been so long. And while he didn't catch a lot, I think he had a good time. Strangely enough when I asked him what his favorite part was, rather than telling the truth and reminiscing about the fishing, he chose to tell me that it was "cooking dinner for everyone". He does enjoy surprising everyone with a really fabulous meal, and I think he did! Salmon tinfoil dinners!!!!! but let's not kid ourselves, Sweetie, you loved the fishing!!!!
Erika's favorite part was being held pretty much EVERY second of this campout. Not that she isn't held all the time at home, when we're camping though, it's really EVERY SECOND!!! I'm happy to say we kept her from getting sunburnt, which is more than I can say about everyone else, and of course she got burnt a few days later at the zoo, but at least she didn't get fried on the campout!!! I think Erika also loved being pushed around in the stroller that I am so happy we brought.
Noah was adorable the whole trip!! He made me laugh a lot. He was especially cute during the time that all the kids were out fishing. He had a lot of fun playing with Charlie.
Nate took these pictures... they're AMAZING!!! He has a really awesome style of photography.
Lukey loved posing for these
Charity says that her favorite part was catching her first fish. Charity was really fun to have camping. She knows how to "rough it" and get dirty, and she was a total blast to be around. We got to do the tiny little braids in hers and Kelly's hair, a must when camping, and I think she really enjoyed herself.
Nate took these adorable pictures while on his walk with the kids when I was rafting. I absolutely LOVE them, if only Brad had been with them (not that I wish he wasn't with me), they'd be blown up and framed to hang on my wall!! But so cute!
The ultimate thrill for a little boy.... throwing rocks into the water. I'm glad they got to do that too :)
I still need to ask Brad what his favorite thing was, but I wanted to post this. We had such a good time. I'm really glad my family was able to do something like this finally.
