2010's first camping trip

This past weekend we went on our first camping trip of 2010. We've all been looking forward to it since our LAST camping trip of 2009. :-) So, we headed up the Naches River Valley to meet up with a bunch of other folks who like to gently muck through the woods via 4 wheel drive like we do. Here is my sequential batch of pictures from the weekend. Awesomely enough, we saw two Elk on the way into the campsite. I didn't get any pictures of that because there wasn't enough time, but it was truly amazing to see those beautiful creatures, and I really hope Frank gets one for us to eat all winter now. Ya like how I can always turn these events around to food in some way?! Haha.

Thankfully, I knew it would be cold, and I ended up being really pleased with the selection of clothing that I packed. It was 76 degrees when we left our house, and it was low 40's when we got to the campsite in the evening, so the nights got down into the 30's. As it was the first trip of the season, I randomly forgot to pack a few different things. One of those things was a blanket to put on the bottom of the tent under our bags, so the first night we were pretty cold. We didn't get much sleep, because beyond the fact that we were a little cold, 1) we were worried about the girls being cold, (of course, they weren't in the slightest, and thought it was ridiculous that we were so worried about them) 2) we haven't slept on the ground in a few months, so had to get used to that again, and 3) our poor dog was SO cold, she was shivering and literally rattling all night long so bad, and she hates being covered in blankets, so she wouldn't accept any warmth other than trying to lay on top of me. I gotta say tho, the cool thing about being awake all night was listening to the amazing orchestra of frogs, and the owls joined in at some point in the night... it's amazing (and lovely!) how loud the forest is in the night! The second night we slept much better... laid one sleeping bag out on the ground, then each of us took a kid (aka a heater) into a sleeping bag with us, and then we threw the other sleeping bag over the top of us... it worked out perfectly, and we slept great. The dog got the girl's blankets, and I think she was a little warmer too.

The next morning I finally gave up and took the dog for a run. These woods were beautiful, and I'm kicking myself because for some reason both mornings I didn't bother to grab the camera. But, the good thing about that is that I was able to wander along just appreciating the moments and the beauty, instead of angling for the best shot, and being irritated at my camera the whole time. :-) Then we came back, and Frank fixed breakfast for us... the other thing I forgot was silverware... I was going to do breakfast burritos so I didn't need to worry about silverware, but it turns out that the 20 tortillas I'd thought I had in my fridge had been eaten at the end of last week, so I didn't have enough, and once I'd figured that out I forgot to pack silverware. That's ok tho, most of the fun of camping is the dispensing of the rules and the ingenuity that results from the creative solutions to the stuff you forgot to pack. Debris, our little raccoon. J&D, I really hope she didn't actually get in your tent and track dirt.

Momma? Can I take a picture of you and Dad?

Sure, Kiddo! This picture is included only because Kiki took it. :-)

For breakfast, roasted Mandarins. (The oranges, silly. Not the people!)

Lovely moss...

Dirty Rovey, and a plug for our favorite Rover Shop...

My sweet baby dog. We kept her tied most of the weekend, and I felt bad about it because she was cold, but I don't feel like I can trust her around other dogs just yet. In the end I think it did a world of good for her. She was able to get used to being around all the people and observe the dogs without being in the midst of them. Before we left I held her leash and let her come with me where I went, and she obeyed and trusted me, and (YAY!) looked to me or Frank for instruction before doing anything. In the past she would have just lunged at whatever came along with no regards to me holding her leash, so I feel like we've made some really good headway, and I'm SO thankful!! Training a dog (especially a rescue dog whose clearly had some really bad life experiences!!) is hard work!!!!

I know it's weird, but I just LOVE stuff like this!!

The place we camped was pretty neat. It had a lodge type thing, which was handy when it started raining and sleeting for a short period on Saturday.

It also had an enormous outhouse.

With a ridiculous number of "holes". But wait, that's not all--

Yes, another whole row of them. I am pleased to say that my darling daughters found this just as disgusting as I did. They refused to use it, and only wanted to do their business in the woods. Does a mother's heart really good.

At one point Debris decided to hike...

this (really steep!) hill in her flip-flops...

Thankfully somebody heard her screams, and Frank and I went to rescue her... she got a ride back on Daddy's shoulders...

Camping with children is such a pleasure. Everything else just goes by the wayside, and you can just let them be. We do not ever take toys for our kids... they play with whatever they find, and they amazingly enough, never complain of boredom. It's quite lovely to see them have fun in nature, be able to run free, and learn to value and respect nature, one of God's most amazing gifts to us.

Saturday PM we had some tech/teaching sessions... since everyone there does off road travel, they took the opportunity to test out some different products, and also do some winch training.

A random kid sculpture...

So we don't forget who we came with... haha! :-)

Oopsies! I drove over a screwdriver in the trail! Which kit works best to fix it?!

My weapon of choice, should I ever need a weapon of choice. I believe this could do some damage.

Testing how the tire repairs stand up to pressure...

It's gonna blow, woh woh woh, VOLCANO! (Sorry, I like to randomly interject the Presidents of the United States of America songs into events, can't help it.) Sadly, (but safely!) this was rather anti climatic. There was not any explosions, just fizzling.

Next we have lessons in different ways of winching... I would like it duly noted that no trees were harmed as part of the winching process.

Practicing...

On the way home, the exhausted (but happy!!) babies crashed. As did the dog. Even though it's tight, that crazy dog loves being smack-dab in the middle of us. I'm quite sure she actually prefers it to her usual space in the roomy back.

Probably because she gets petted and snuggled like so the entire time.

We stopped by Miners in Yakima for a burger, and then headed home. We thankfully decided to check us all for ticks one last time before bed, and ended up finding one on Debris head. So now we head into a week with a little more laundry than usual, but happy because we did what we like to do this weekend. :-)

Thanks to the person who planned this trip, and all the work that went into making it a great time!