You Don't See That Every Day

We got to go camping with the Mr this summer at least once. We hadn't been yurting since before Little K born, so I found a yurt that was available (so hard to do in the summer!) and reserved it. In the old days, before my kids went to away school, we used to go camping after Labor Day when others where heading back to school. Of course that changed as we added to the family and to the school's tuition. But we still wanted to go camping and by camping I mean going somewhere that didn't feel like our backyard with neighbors Right Next to us. Our trip to Diamond Lake a few years back was perfect for that -- our family and about five others in a huge campground. So with a few hit and misses we have found that camping a couple of days Before Labor Day weekend is the best time to go. As we are packing to go home on Friday most people are arriving for the long weekend. And that way we also have time to relax at home before we send the kids to school. This year we cam...

You might think that a 40-something year old married mother of five wouldn't be afraid of much. You might think that such a woman who has been to the ER more than once with 4 of those five children, and more times than that with her husband, wouldn't be afraid of much. Over our 21 years of marriage I've had to face a few of my fears. Deep water, high heights, and high fevers have all served a sort in deepening my prayer life. One other area of my life that leads me to my knees is traveling without the Mr. Traveling in itself can be stressful. Not the everyday drive around town, or over to the coast travel. Last week I loaded up our four girls and myself and all our camping gear, and the five of us drove 8 hours to a campsite, where we joined my siblings and families for part of the annual family camp. I didn't sleep well the whole week beforehand; crazy dreams and interrupted nights had me wondering what was going on. But we did it. And we made it. And we had fun...

August 2016-- family campout. We made it to Diamond Lake this year for our camping experience. It has now become one of our favorites. Even though it was quite a long drive, with many "how much farther?" questions from the 6 year old, there was plenty to see, and plenty of time to talk. We did see a car accident that must have happened within the half hour; that was pretty sobering. We got there in time for the kids to set up the tent with Dad while I got dinner together with some helpers. The yellow jackets decided they liked our taco salad, so we had to move our supper time inside the tent. Once we were done the visitors left and we came out in time to go down to the lake for a beautiful sunset. A campfire, with s'mores and a game helped end the day.   Brrr - the nighttime is cold there! Even though we weren't all feeling rested the next morning we went on bike rides. Little K. is now pretty much a pro on her bike without training wheels. That was an ...

The annual family camp-out happened this past holiday weekend. We hadn't been camping with the extended family in a few years. But I braved the elements and took the 5 kids camping without the Mr's help. He had to stay home and work, (and recover from a bad cough.) We had a beautiful weekend on the coast. You know it's the Oregon coast because of the coats being worn. But this time the beach was warm, although it wasn't really sunny. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, playing in the water, playing with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. We took a hike out to Cape Lookout but only made it halfway. The hike was a bit more than we had anticipated with the young ones in tow. The drop offs were pretty steep. And although it wasn't too taxing of a hike, it was too much for the little guys this time. The Boy was able to finish the hike later with other relatives.  My youngest was really enthralled by the one park ranger's talk t...

We are feeling the crunch of time, as our kids get older; their free time (without having to report to a job/boss) is shrinking and we want to get in as much family time this summer as we can. So we decided to go camping. We took 3 days and headed to central Oregon to Tumalo State Park. It was the first time we have camped here, and we might try it again. When we first arrived we didn't know if our tent would even fit in the space. The campsites were a little cozier that we were used to. We've had too many family group camps! which are roomier, and set away from the other campers.  But we fit the tent in; we had green grass for the kids to frolic on, and we had plenty of room for all 7 of us to eat, sleep, and play games. The smoke and haze from the forest fires was a grim reminder of what was happening in other parts of the state. We couldn't have a campfire, but we still had marshmallows and chocolate striped cookies for dessert. We decided to do some s...

I finally found a moment to sit down and write. Since June and July were busy with basketball and swimming, August has been our vacation month. It all started with family coming to visit at the end of July. Cousin time was so precious. The youngest two had a blast together, and Little K was quite sad when the time came to say goodbye.  The older kids had a fun time with the older cousin, incorporating a wild made-up game that included Risk, Poker, Battleship, playing cards, dice, and more. Movies, jokes, ice cream, and a long walk at the park rounded out the days. We finished up swimming with the finals on Aug 1 - the girls brought home a boatload of various colored ribbons. We then headed over to my brother's house to hang out with family. And play an impromptu game of charades. The fun of that weekend didn't stop there. The next day more family came to our house to visit with my niece who hadn't been 'home' in a long time. Sadly, no charade games t...