Family Camping Trip

So our little family went camping and I survived!  I think the last time I went camping was in 2007 when we traveled up the coast of California and on into Oregon.  It was a lot easier since we only had Lucas and he was pretty self sufficient at the time {he would have been turning 5 on our 3 week long trip} and really very helpful with setting up camp.  This overnight camp out as it turned out was harder since we had wind, COLD temperatures, and diapers {no running water or plumbing... but I guess that is the JOY of camping} to contend with.  I can laugh at it now; now that it is all over and I'm once again warm.  Some highlights were that my tennis shoes ended up not making the trip and I sure could have used them.  Then Reef started coughing this awful barky sort of cough right when we got to the lake, but hadn't yet found a good campsite.  I also didn't realize or appreciate how hard it really is to come by a good campsite especially at 9 p.m. on a Friday night.  You see Brad kept telling me "we need to go" and I was still puttering around the home {I never like to come home to a big mess} you ladies know how it is.  Because of my lack of urgency or excitement we got up to the lake just as the sun was starting to set and all the good spots were taken.  We almost camped at a few places, but they were so we windy we would have blown over and I'm not kidding.  After looking a long time {3 hours... no joke} the hunt was over and we stopped.  The good news was the burning band was lifted and from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. we could start a fire... you see the wind was so blustery that you couldn't even burn before that.  So I guess in a way it was good we were late.  :)  After setting up the tent we transferred the two sleepy heads into bed.  We all crashed out and were awoken by the wind not too long later.  It was so noisy I though we were going to lift off and fly.  Or else one of the four rocks boulders that I had used to anchor the tent down with would lift up and knock me out for good.  We all survived the night and woke up at "O" dark thirty as Brad says with both boys raring to go.  "Dad... dad... mom wake up lets make a fire"... it was in the 50's and I had no tennis shoes only flip flops, oh AND no coat.  Next time I will remember to make sure I bring these very important pieces.  Brad was a good man and made a fire as my attempts were futile and I climbed back into my sleeping bag to warm up.  I could go on and on, but what's that old saying 'a picture says a thousand words'... so here are a bunch of pictures.

Reef was getting scolded by Brad for throwing Lucas' butterfly/fishing net into the water.  It sunk even after we tried to save it, but we did managed to get the diaper ha ha... we found out they float a lot longer.  Reef wasn't the best fisherman.  From the sounds of his high pitched screams I deduced that he didn't much care for being cooped up on the boat.  Our four hour boat rental was returned in under just an hour.  They don't rent nanny's at the  dock {I asked :)} unfortunately.  Lucas did get to enjoy catching little minnows {off the side of this pier} with his newly purchased butterfly/fishing net {thanks to his dad} and he even tried to sell them.  As for me and Reef we went back to the van to rest up.

I have never been so happy in my whole life to come home.  There truly is no place like home.

You might say he was a bit on the sour side.