We do it like the pioneers would have

This weekend was a fun camping trip to White Pines with some good friends. The weather was super hot and we spent a lot of time either in Nason Creek or soaking our feet to keep cool.

The kids had a ton of fun together and played really well. We even tried out Hayley's new Lasso Golf game, which kept the kids and adults entertained.

We were really roughing it, no showers all weekend. We also ran out of space in our coolers, so we decided to use the creek to keep our drinks cool-you know just like the pioneers would have. Erin and Mark tried to catch a salmon in the creek with their bare hands, but no such luck! The salmon were huge and this is the first time we have seen any at Nason Creek.

Erin wanted to walk part of the Iron Goat Trail so we started where the town of Wellington used to be. It was a little spooky walking through the old snow sheds, and being at the site of the avalanche disaster that killed so many people. We did however find out that our daughter Molly is a little Forrest Gump as far as her running skills. She has no problem keeping up with Auntie Erin!

On another note, we bought a new car. It is a Nissan Xterra. We need to get a picture of it, but I did not want to take one today because the car is dusty from camping. I will try to do that soon.

We are exhasted after this weekend. We were packed and on the road by 7 a.m. this morning to avoid the thunder and lightning storm. It blew over pretty quickly, but we wanted to stay dry!

weekend is over

Our camping weekend is over. Mark, the girls and I headed out Friday morning to our spot we call White Pines. It is next to a creek, and not a state camp site. We love it! You can be loud, go exploring, watch squirrels, crazy ducks (we saw about 5 of them that were like the baby Raptors in Jurassic Park), and even see snakes! Which by the way, this was the first time we have seen a snake at this camping spot. The weather was great, and along with this when it is too hot or dry, you can't have a campfire. We were going to try to sneak one in anyways, until the Forest Service Ranger drove back and told us we were not allowed to have fires. We were still able to make smores, by roasting our marshmallows on the little grill.

Saturday, Erin and her kids and Rose and her daughter came over to camp with us. It was fun! My parents showed up later in the day and Mom helped the kids build a fort.

By Sunday we needed to head home, it started raining late Saturday night, so we packed up early Sunday and hit the road.

rain drops keep falling on my head

We went camping last weekend. It rained. It rained some more. It teased us with some warm weather. And then it RAINED. But we still had so much fun. Birch bay State Park was fun, despite the condescending Park Ranger that had to come and tell us how noisy we were being (she talked to us like we were little kids). We had a ton of good food-thanks everyone, we saw a cool birds of prey show, we went to the beach, we roasted smores, and we had a ton of fun playing cards.

Plus we opted to go to the go-cart track for Ethan's birthday since the weather was too cold for the waterslides. The kids had so much fun (and so did the boys-Mark, mini-me, and Bizarro).

Next up for camping-Labor Day weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for nicer weather.

Here are just a few pictures. Thanks to our neighbor for taking our group picture. Mark had to teach them how to start a fire. If you can imagine, they were trying to keep dry with an umbrella. Not really something I have ever seen on a camping trip.