Willes Family Camping Trip

I survived going camping twice in one week.  I was exhausted and nearly didn't go to the Willes camping trip, but I am so glad that I pushed through the tiredness (and the post-migraine fog) and went.  It rained a lot while we were there- the sun only peaked out of the clouds for a few hours over the weekend (which made drying things out rather tricky) but it was a nice, relaxing camping trip.  The rainy weather forced us all to take it easy and just spend time together.

Once again, Daniel stayed home with Jane and I took the boys.  I'm not too positive that Jane will come with us next year, but I'm sure that she will want to come!

I was surrounded by photo ops, so I took a lot of pictures. After working on my Dad's 70th birthday book, I was left wanting to have more pictures of my family.  I was struck by a feeling that I never know how much longer we will be granted time together, so I took advantage of the time we had. 

I captured people helping each other:

Grandpa helping Seth make a bow for his arrows

Marci brushing Klayre's hair

Grandpa helping Paul take down his tent

Uncle Dan fixing Seth's scooter

People playing together:

Mark "breaking" an egg with Randy

Kevin, Tanner, Seth and Cooper exploring the forest

Jessica and Blake playing the hand slap game

Paul and Wendy playing Chinese Checkers

Seth and Klayre

Dan and Klarye

 People hanging out:

Klayre, Kaitlyn, Mom, Kim, Jessica (Dan is asleep in the background)

Marci and Denise (baby Hailey is asleep in the background, but I'm not sure if you can really see her)

Mark and Cooper (who are very good at being 12 years old)

After our camping trip earlier in the week with Shelley,  I decided that we needed more room in our tent.  We were just too snug in there and the smell of boys was a bit to strong for me.  With the weather looking rainy, I thought that it was a good time for us to not be touching the sides of the tent.  We bought Mark and Paul their own pup-tents.  They were excited to have some space of their own, and I enjoyed the extra space in the big tent,  It was almost as though Seth and I went camping by ourselves at night and first thing each morning (because we were the only ones up and about). 

I taught Seth how to start a fire.  We used the fire starters that I made out of dryer lint and wax in a paper egg carton.  It worked beautifully! 

 

We were surrounded by beautiful purple flowers. 

  After we packed up camp a few of us went to Hidden Falls. 

Wendy and Randy

 I spent a few minutes talking with my brothers, Dan and Randy.  I couldn't help but be grateful that Randy was here with us.  Randy was in a rappelling accident 18 months ago.  It wasn't just that he is alive, but that he is healthy enough to come hiking with us that made my gratitude bucket overflow.  I love you so much Randy!

Dan, Randy, Sherron and Seth

 Coming home with wet gear takes a lot of work- we had to find places to set things out to dry out all of our sleeping bags, pillows and tents.  I cannot express enough how much I love my instant tent.  It took all of the energy I had left to put it up to let it dry, but if it had been my old tent I would have seriously considered waiting until the next day and risking letting it mold.  The garage was a mess, because that is were we hung everything.  It was a good place, though because it motivated me to get it put away, once it dried, so that I could park the van in the garage again.  Our van got a well-deserved deep-cleaning after that muddy trip! 

I think that we are done camping this year, but I would still like to go on a day hike and perhaps a sunrise hike.  I love spending time in the mountains.  We are so lucky to live so close to them!