Summer Camping

 We didn't have a lot of time to go camping up in the mountains, but I wanted to take the kids camping so bad that we did a little back yard camping! :) It was just about as fun as the real thing! AND I didn't have to pack any coolers of food...

S'Mores are even better with these cute kids! 

Sleeping in the great outdoors! 

 The hope was to camp up by Bear Lake and spend the next day at the lake. So we did...we just missed the part about camping BY the lake, we still got up and headed out to the lake early the next morning. Becky and I staked out a great spot and Chris came and joined us later in the afternoon. He wasn't pleased to find the van a little bit stuck in the sand...I might have pulled back a little bit too far onto the beach when we first got there... :) Our beach neighbors helped push us out at the end of the day and it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a great day at the beach!

camoflouging

Esther could not resist that yummy, crystal clean lake water that Faith kept peeing in... 

The ketchup and mustard bottles were genius! Thanks Becky!

The kids love making these mini pools. I thought they looked pretty cool.

Impromptu Camping at Yuba Resevoir

The stars! We were able to witness a meteor shower late that night. I had hoped to catch a shooting star on film, but it just didn't happen! :( It was beautiful though. 

Faith likes her Uncle Matt. 

And Lydia made this super awesome Sand Castle all by herself!!

Rowing around to no where at all...perfect for  their age! :) 

Unless you're left alone in the boat and can't seem to row back to shore....Like Isaac.

Faith fell asleep as I tried to row her back into shore. 

 Sand Castles! 

Kate and I made a pretty awesome Sand Temple. 

What a cute little stinker! She braves the water even when it's freezing! My little risk taker! 

He will find a weapon any way and any how...Not a fan of the cold waters, he prefers to play in the sand where he is comfortable. 

Well some body is not happy the Cheetohs are gone! ;) 

Sassy pants. Took her forever to learn to just pee in the water when we are at the lake. When she finally got the hang of it, she wasn't at all discrete! You'd turn around and find Faith standing in a semi squat with her legs apart, clearly peeing right into the lake...and then usually announce to just about the whole world that she just peed in the water! 

This was an impromptu trip because Chris actually had a cousin pass away unexpectedly and we ended up having to travel down to Holden for the funeral that weekend. The Masners decided to try and make a camping trip out of it since we were already having to travel so far. We tried to hurry down Thursday afternoon, but didn't get in until well after dark, pretty close to midnight I think. We got to see several shooting stars as we put up the tent in the dark, trying to be as quiet as we possibly could be. We slep all huddle in one tent! Got up the next morning and had some muffins and went over to the lake for the day. The water was pretty slimy in the morning, but seemed to improve as the day went on. We packed down lunch in coolers and snacked all day long on the beach. We went up to camp and broke down the tent and returned to the Lake for a little bit more playing. We finally ate some packed dinner up at a picnic table before heading over to the Scipio Hotel. We got showered and clean and settled in for another cozy night huddled in one room. :) This is where Chris would meet us late that night. The next morning we attended the funeral and had a good visit with the Bennett Family. We went up into the hills for a hot dog roast supper and visiting by campfire (see next post).