Last Thursday Peter took off a tiny bit early from work and we headed up toward Bend to meet his parents for a couple nights of camping. Originally, when the whole idea came up I wasn't terribly excited because it was starting to get pretty cold at night. And the last time we went camping Benjamin didn't sleep too great and I didn't want him to freeze. But it looked like it was going to be around 85 during the day and no colder than 50 at night so off we went!
We got a great site right next to a little creek and we all arrived just after 5pm that night. We set everything up before we headed out to Clear Lake for a bit. Funny side note though, Poppy forgot the poles for his tent....so he and Peter had to get creative and managed to improvise a solution that would make it so they at least didn't have to sleep in their van!
Clear Lake
Benjamin spent A LOT of time throwing rocks in the water. At the lake, at the river, at the creek....he would do it all day if we let him.
We came back to the site to eat hot dogs, green beans, peaches and smores. We cozied up around the fire after Benjamin went to bed then we all called it a night. Benjamin slept great and woke up only at 6:45am for the day.....compared to last time, this was great.
We ate breakfast then headed off to take a nice 3 or so mile hike. We did the hike last time we went camping and it wasn't crowded at all this time so it was great!
an earlier morning meant he was ready for a tiny catnap in the morning hike...so cute!
out of the pack and walking for a bit with Poppy & GongGong
Benjamin loooves the waterfalls and the rainbow! He talks about them quite often
my sweet boys
GongGong getting a closer look at the beautiful water
such power!
We ate a picnic lunch, then went for a bit of drive while Ben napped in the van. Peter was supposedly looking for a good view of Mt. Jefferson but never really found it. Instead, we drove for about 40 minutes up gravel, bumpy roads and ended up at a trail leading to Anne Lake. You can imagine that this almost 20 week pregnant lady was not super excited about a second hike of the day but we went anyway. Only the hike was pretty steep, not very pretty and the lake was nothing spectacular. Nice going Pete....
I made Peter take a picture at his infamous trail.....that we found after driving on roads that will probably cause our van to need an alignment, ha!
oh, what a beautiful trail......not!
family picture in front of the "ho hum" lake
this picture almost makes the lake look pretty. Okay, okay....it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't beautiful.
We headed back to the campground to eat some hamburger helper, corn on the cob, and pineapple before calling it a night. GongGong of course cooked for us the whole time, and Poppy was a great wood chopper! Benjamin just got into everything, got dirty and looked cute.
I bundled Benjamin up pretty good that night so he wouldn't get cold, though it was definitely warmer than the night before. This is the cute, but kind of pitiful face we woke up to in the morning (he slept great again!)
He was definitely pretty stinkin cute in the morning walking around in his pj's......
We ate breakfast then packed up all our stuff.....
the guys using their great weight, I mean, abilities to flatten the tarp
even Benjamin helped by carrying his chair back to the van
stealing (and eating) Poppy's apple while he loaded up his stuff!
We headed off in search of the Pacific Crest trail. Poppy wanted to walk on this trail so that's where we headed. Unfortunately, it's been mostly ruined due to forest fires. So, I was just delighted to walk in at least 85 degree heat, uphill, on a trail made of sand, with absolutely no shade. Fun fun! Ha ha, we love giving Poppy a hard time....it wasn't exactly the most beautiful hike either. But it's a memory right? :-)
He once again fell asleep on the way to the hike
the content dirty face of a boy who loves camping
my boys looking cute in their hats
yep, this is our beautiful hike
lots of burned down trees
looking so grown up and cute even after soaking himself with Mommy's water
dirty boy!!
Ben, Poppy & GongGong all walking along the Pacific Crest trail
quick photo op (though you can't see the mountain in the background)
great memories made on this camping trip!
We stopped for another picnic lunch then headed home. It was soooooo nice to get a warm shower, we were all really dirty and probably smelly. We had a huge spaghetti dinner and all looked forward to sleeping on a real mattress. Of course, we had to celebrate GongGong's birthday with the only kind of cake she will really eat.....a bite size Milky Way!
Happy Birthday GongGong!!!
Sunday we enjoyed a great church service, a roast lunch, relaxation in the afternoon and an evening service. The boys stayed and played vball while we got Benjamin home to bed. They left a little before lunch on Monday and we were sad to see them go! It was a great visit, Benjamin looks forward to you coming back so you can read to him again :-)
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