I LOVE Camping

So I think I originally thought we should go camping for the kids.  But now I just want to go for me.  I love being out in the great outdoors with the beauty of God's creations surrounding us, exploring and hiking and eating and cooling off and being without technology and time and deadlines and work and dirty dishes and houses and bedtimes and on and on.  I love camping.

We had heard from friends about this great campground called La Wis Wis.  It is near Mt. Ranier.  The plan was for our family to go on Thursday night and on Friday go exploring near Mt. St. Helens and then friends would join us for Friday and Saturday, but unfortunately Brady got sick so we didn't go until Friday morning, messing up our exploring Mt. St. Helens plans.  Oh well.

 But Friday morning everyone was ready to roll!

It was so beautiful with huge majestic trees and a beautiful river and lovely sounds and sights and scenes.

Friday afternoon we dipped our toes in the river.  It was COLD water.  I said that if it was holding still it would freeze over. Dave got his thermometer out and it was 50ish degrees, but it was still right off the glacier if you ask me!

Platts and Webbs joined us Friday afternoon, and on Saturday we enjoyed hiking to a waterfall, playing in the river, making shirts and crafting, exploring, fishing, and eating.  The kids all get along so great, and the adults always have something to talk about and play nice too.  It is nice to have 3 families that get along and have no DRAMA. So fun.

Some of the crazies soaped up and took a bath in the ice water.  Dave splashed like a wild man to get the soap off.

We decided to go to Dog Lake and go fishing.  Some of the kids and adults were dying to throw a pole in.  Although we didn't catch anything, (we seem to have bad luck), we had a good time eating a dutch oven dinner of fajitas and cobbler and enjoying new scenery.

Mt. Ranier was clear and visible on our drive back to camp. 

 We stopped at a place along the road where a lava flow had been backed up and poured over the wall.  It was amazingly beautiful.

 Here is the troop of kids in their new bleach dyed shirts.  It was such a fun weekend!  Hope to do it again soon!

 

Summer Fun

Nobody was more excited to play on the slip-n-slide than Sabree.  I put it up and the boys got ready to slip-n-slide, and Sabe walked over and sat right in the middle of it and wasn't about to move.  She loved the water in her face and the whole thing.  The boys had to slip around her, but they didn't mind to much.  Luckily there were no crashes! 

Poor Tanner

Tanner isn't much of a complainer.  Unless it is about heat.  He hates being hot!  But he mentioned a couple of times during the day that his mouth hurt.  Finally at bed time I looked at his lip to see what the problem was and sure enough, he had reason to complain.  Poor guy.

I send these awesome picks to our dentist who is also our friend.  He said that this is classic text book day 1 herpetic gingivitis stomachosis.  Bad cankers.  He gave me a recipe for magic mouthwash (equal parts maalox and benedryl) and told me to keep him hydrated even if he didn't feel like eating.    Poor poor Tanner.

Sunday popcorn

Who doesn't love a little Sunday popcorn?

 Cheesing it up for the camera!!!

This is Sabree's skowl.  She gives it very often!!

Happy Birthday Colt!

He's 7!!!  Can anyone believe it?

What a delightful day we had together.  Colt and his brothers went with friends to the free movie in the morning, and then Tanner went to cub scout day camp and Brady went to the neighbors, and we invited 2 of Colt's buddies from the ward over for corn dogs and a play date.

One of the fun things the boys did was make Flubber.  It is always fun to create and play with crazy stuff like flubber.

For dinner his request was BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes.  When Tanner got home we had the Webbs join us for cake and ice cream and presents.  Colton is so easy....he didn't care what kind of cake, and didn't have any requests for presents.

 We got Colton a new alarm clock cd player and CD for bedtime, and a velcro catch and throw set.  Grandpa and Grandma Mills gave him a truck and trailer.  Grandma Peterson gave him money to go buy his own gift, and Bronx gave him a new 4-square ball.

Colton is a special boy.  We sure love having him in our family!