Ohanapecosh Camping

I've often told Mark, "as soon as our youngest is three, we will be a camping family." 

We're not there yet, but I figure we should at least have some exposure before that point, so in August we teamed up with our good friends for a camping adventure at Mt. Rainier.  

As we prepared to leave, I was reminded that camping with kids is the process by which you attempt to pack your entire house into your car.

 

The fact that it's been a long while since we've been camping as a family was made clear when we went to set up our tent and discovered that the strings in a few of the poles were broken.  Whoops!  Mark and Ben were able to figure out a workable solution (thank you duct tape!), but I think we'll be in the market for a new tent before we venture out again (no big loss, our tent was a pain to set up).

While the dads worked (in the surprisingly warm temperatures), the kids explored our fantastic campgrounds.  Our side-by-side spots were enormous, and backed up to a hill with even more paths and room to play.

Finally, we got camp set up and were ready to set off for an afternoon at the Ohanapecosh river.  We'd visited this river a few years ago and the water had been glacier-cold.  We'd warned our friends, "you can barely even dip in your toes!"

This year was different.  The water level was much lower, and while the water was cold, it was tolerable.  The kids wasted no time climbing on the rocks, digging in the dirt and mud, and getting in the water.

Mark took over (non-napping) Nellie duty.

After playing at the river, we headed back to our campsite for dinner.  We had prepared ahead of time to make dinner prep minimal, and it was super nice to be able to just warm up pre-made homemade macaroni and cheese and BBQ shredded pork on the campfire. 

We made our camping trip official by making s'mores.

Then it was time to try to get the kids to sleep.  Aubree and Mark stayed out and played games with Ashley and Ben (who are board game professionals).  I took tent duty (because... Nellie).  The boys did pretty well, all things considered.  Nellie?  Not so much. 

Important note - never, never take a baby who won't sleep anywhere but her crib, camping. 

Additionally, I think Nellie might be allergic to vacation.  She gets a fever every. single. time.  This was no exception.  It was ugly.

Still, we made it to the next morning where she seemed much improved.  Watching her closely, we decided to proceed with our plans, which involved hiking from our campsite 2.5 miles to the Grove of the Patriarchs.  We knew this 5-mile round-trip hike was slightly ambitious with our young group, but we packed a lunch and lots of snacks, and planned to take it slow and easy.

A little over a mile into the hike, we passed the beautiful Silver Springs waterfall.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the river right outside of the Grove of the Patriachs.

Ben gave the boys lessons on skipping rocks.

Thane found a polliwog. 

Soon it was time to start up again.  We love the short Grove of the Patriarchs loop, but by the time we finished and were ready to start the 2 miles back to our campsite, we hit meltdown mode.  Nellie had finally fallen asleep, but most of the other small ones had reached their limits.  Time for Plan B, which involved Mark and Ben finishing the hike at a brisk pace and grabbing our vans to come back and pick the rest of us up at the parking lot.

The kids were pretty patient while waiting (snacks helped), which is good, because we were bummed to not be able to finish the hike.

We had a relaxed afternoon back at the campsite.  I tried to get Nellie to take a nap. You can probably guess how that worked out.

Bryce brought the bow and arrows he made at cub camp, and had a great time shooting his nerf arrows all around.  He was generous sharing his fun toy.  Thane, however, decided he wanted his own bow and arrow, and set about making one.  It totally didn't work, but still looked pretty good!

The second night in the tent was just as hard with Nellie as the first.  I just kept reminding myself, "this is the last summer we will have to camp with a baby..." 

The next morning we got up and packed up camp as quickly as we could (which, with nine kids running around isn't really quick at all).  The goal for the day was to drive up to Paradise and do a hike up there.  Our friends had been concerned about parking, but we had visited Paradise a few times previously and never had any issues, so we assured them we'd be fine.  Whoops again!

Paradise was an absolute zoo!  I've never seen anything like it.  There wasn't even a hope to find parking.  Apologizing profusely, we abandoned Paradise and turned again to Plan B - hiking Reflection Lake.   

Plan B turned to Plan C when the Coberly's van started having brake issues.  Still, we stopped long enough for an improvised picnic lunch.

The Coberly's left hoping to get home early enough to get their brakes fixed.  We decided to explore just a little bit around the lake.  Our efforts were rewarded when we found the spot where the picture we have hanging on our living room wall was taken.

Dirty, stinky, and tired, we made our way home, already thinking about next year's trip...

Graham's 4th Birthday

It occurred to me a few weeks before Graham's birthday that he was turning four, and in our family, that means he got to have a friend birthday party.  Frankly, planning a birthday party just seemed like one more thing to try to add to an already over-full load of responsibilities.

"Hey Graham," I said to him in my most excited voice, "I have a really great idea.  How about we wait until you turn five to have a big friend birthday party?!"

No dice.  This boy loves his friends.  He's also not terribly picky about who he counts as a friend.  His philosophy seems to run more along the lines of "if you're roughly my size, then you're my friend!"

Then I realized that Graham has a summer birthday, which means we could have an outside party.  Suddenly, the task seemed much less overwhelming.  A little pool, a slip and slide, the water table, some snacks, cake and ice-cream, and we should be good, right?

In theory, yes.  

In my over-abundance of optimism, I failed to expect Seattle to act like Seattle.  The forecasted high on the afternoon of his birthday party was only 65 degrees.  But the show must go on!  

I tasked Aubree with pouring buckets full of warm water into the kiddie pool, while I boiled pot after pot of water to try to provide the kids with a semi-warm place to play.  We were semi-successful.

Thank goodness kids are good sports! 

 

Some kids were more adventurous with trying the slip and slide than others.  Cousin Anna and Thane were the two who spent the most time trying different tricks.  At one point, I turned to Katie getting ready to say, "It's so funny that Thane and Anna are playing so well together," before it occurred to me, "They're the same age! It shouldn't be surprising that they're playing together!" Usually, Anna prefers to play with Aubree or Bryce, so this was a great bonding experience for her and Thane.

When Seth felt the sliding was too tame, he gave his kids a little "boost."

 When Seth wasn't tossing kids around, he and Mark took over watching the babies.

 

Graham just loved having all his friends around. 

Introducing Clara to Claire

What the kids liked most (by far) was free access to the snack table.  Next time we throw a four year old birthday party, I might just put a snack table out and call it good!

Katie recently decided that she loves making birthday cakes and volunteered to be the designated cake decorator.  Hurray!  Hoorah!!!  I will decorate cakes for my kids because I love them, but it always ends up being such a headache.  Plus, Katie does a WAY better job than I've ever done.  

We decided to have her make a parrot, because we call Graham our little parrot (he loves to parrot all he sees and hears).

Graham loved it!

Graham's cute friends brought him some fun presents.  

Before his party, a few people asked, "What kind of gift does Graham prefer?"  It was a hard question to answer.  He's a kid who loves lots of things, but not anything in particular. Which means he'd be happy with anything... or nothing.

In the end, he was super pleased with his party.  Which is all that really counts, right?

The next day was his actual birthday, and he opened his family gifts.  He got his first little Lego set and was so excited to build like his big brothers (keeping the big brothers from building for him was trickier).  He also got his first personalized CD from Mark - a big milestone!

Thane, ever the thoughtful gift giver, put together a whole bag of little gifts. 

We adore our G-Whiz!

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An Interview with Graham:

Favorite Color?: "All the colors in the rainbow."

Favorite Candy?:  "M&M's"

What do you want to be when you grow up?: "A Dad." (His standard answer for a long time was "a zebra")

Where do you want to go on your mission?: "To church."

Favorite Primary Song?: "Popcorn Popping."

Favorite Animal?: "Elephant."

Favorite Movie?: "Thomas the Tank Engine."

Favorite Thing to Do?:"Watch movies."

Favorite Food: "Tortellini."

Best Friends?:"Molly, Jayden, Eli, Clara, Piper, Bentley."

Favorite Book?: "Flap Your Wings."

Favorite Toy?: "My shooting thing from McDonalds."

What makes you happy?: "When Dad reads stories."

Favorite thing to do with Mom?: "Cook with her."

Favorite thing to do with Dad?: "Make ravioli with him."

What do you do really well?: "Look at books."

What makes you laugh?: "When you do a joke to me."

What’s the best time of day?: "Going to church."

What are you afraid of?: "Dragons."

What do you like to do with your family?: "Cook."

What do you love to learn about?: "Paint."

Where do you like to go?: "To Ember's house."

If you had one wish, what would it be?: "Drawing.  Something for my friends."

What would you do if you had $1,000?: "Spend.  Spend it on a - huh - a, a, a thousand things."

What is your favorite song?: "I love you."

What do you hope you can do before your next birthday?: "Cook!" 

What's your favorite Super Hero?: "Superman."

Farm School 2016, by Aubree

When mom and the brothers left after lunch, we played for a while outside, had dinner, played more, and decided that night we would sleep out on the trampoline. When it was time to go to bed, we took our sleeping bags, pillows and blankets outside and set up camp. We played there for a while, then lay down to go to sleep. When the sun finally set, we found stars and constellations, including the big and little dippers, and what we thought was the north star.

The next day we had another day of water fun, starting with going to the pond, then having more soapy games on the trampoline.

 

 We also picked peaches.

 

 All too soon, it was time to leave to Rattlesnake Lake to meet up with my family. It was really fun, and I can't wait until next year.

Family Farm School 2016

After a fun weekend of City School, we hopped in the van and drove Jaylen home.  Instead of dropping off Aubree, we all got to stay for a mini-Family Farm School!  What better way to start that horseback riding?

Bryce was the most excited about this opportunity.  He loved his short ride, and spent the rest of the time walking around with Ashlee as she led all the other kids.  

Thane and Graham were willing participants, but didn't seem too bothered one way or another. 

Aubree had to be coerced, but she put on her brave, and did a great job.

The day was incredibly hot, and the non-riders sought shade high in the branches of a perfect climbing tree.

When we finished horse-back riding, we returned to Ashlee's house and the kids went out to run in the sprinklers.  At our house, when we "run in the sprinklers," we attach the hose to our one sprinkler, and the kids take turns running in a ten-foot radius.  At Ashlee's, they turned on a field of industrial size sprinklers!

The troop eventually made their way over to the trampoline.  They stuck a sprinkler underneath the trampoline, and poured dish soap all over the top.  As you might imagine, this resulted in a bubbly, giggly, riot of fun!

And since that wasn't enough water fun for one day, we then loaded up and headed over to the Pond.

My kids were exhausted by the evening, but Aubree was able to stay up a little bit later to enjoy a picture perfect evening around the fire.

The next morning, everyone was eager to be up and right back to playing with their friends.  All the amazing things we do around the Farm are well-loved and appreciated, but oftentimes my kids most enjoy the chance to just play with their friends.

All the weapon toys are also super appealing.

Graham and Max totally hit it off and loved playing together.

Soon we were off on our morning adventures.  We stopped by a neighbor's house to see one-day old puppies.

We were also able to do one of Aubree's most anticipated activities - pick potatoes!  It was another scorching hot day, though, so most of the kids ran out of steam pretty quickly.

We left Ashlee's mid-afternoon, but left Aubree to enjoy a couple days of Farm School on her own (which I will have her write about very soon).  We LOVED Family Farm School. 

Before we left, I snapped a picture of Nellie with her birthday buddy, Gracee. 

A few days later we met up with Ashlee and her family at Rattlesnake Lake for our final summer exchange and a chance to spend a final few hours together.  

Rattlesnake Lake is such an unbelievably gorgeous location.

Being there with friends was even better.  Bryce, Maggie, and Thane worked hard to build a rock wall under the water. 

Nellie enjoyed the cool water white-trash style (t-shirt and diaper).

Until next year!