Camping! June 30th - July 4th

We went camping for David's birthday and over the fourth of July weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and headed to Icicle Creek area just past Leavenworth. We stayed until Monday. While we were camping Cambree said, "mom I wish we could stay 5 more days." David and I agreed. If he didn't have to get back to work we would have happily stayed 5 more days. It really was a great time!

We got up there Thursday and pretty much tagged the first spot we could find that could fit a couple of tents. The Fackrell's met us there that evening and we knew being the fourth the camp sites were filling up fast. My brother, Taylor also came up for the night and the kids had a blast playing with him. Especially Cambree because he climbed all of the big rocks in our site with her!

My kids are in heaven while camping! Heck David and I are in heaven while camping! We got it down to a pretty good science and we had an AWESOME summer of camping. I am hoping we get in some winter cabin camping this winter!



At the top of the world!! Literally she was so so happy climbing those rocks!

I must note we had the best birthday cake Thursday night for David's birthday. I made dutch oven cheesecake...oh HEAVEN!!! We've made it a couple more times and the second time we did it a little differently and it wasn't as good. but then David made it just a couple weeks ago with his scouts and brought me the leftovers and oh man it is my favorite cheesecake now. SO YUMMY! We really had some yummy food on this trip. hot dogs of course, carne asada, dutch oven lasagna, hogie sandwiches, egg mcmuffins, hash...the list just keeps on going, YUM!

The next morning we heard there were more camp grounds further up the main road that had opened up so David and Duain went and scoped them out. They scored us a HUGE site right on the river (Icicle Creek) The kids LOVED throwing rocks in the river. But it was freezing cold and going WAY TOO FAST to play in it. but the rock throwing was still super fun!

This girl LOVES her Aunt Cherie. Well all her aunts for that matter!

Bridger is going to be the class clown. I swear this kid is always making us laugh. But he enjoyed some quiet time in Charlies kennel. And for the record he climbed in all on his own, and did it pretty frequently! (hmmmm, maybe we should have had him sleep inside this at night seeing how he figured out how to climb out of his pack n play on this trip, too bad I JUST thought of it, hahaha)!!

proof I was there!

the second day we also took a trip up to Lake Wenatchee. It was beautiful up there. The water was FREEZING cold but that didn't keep my kids out AT ALL. I told David I could have spent three more hours there on top of the three or so we had already spent. We didn't even do anything special just played in the shallow water and walked on logs and let the boys play catch with the football. It was just the fact that we were all happy and enjoying the summer sunshine with family. PERFECT! Plus we took a picnic lunch, and I love picnics!

we were both SO SO happy!

This is how our kids traveled. watching movies! it really has been our best purchase!

speaking of the kids they did so well. Bridger took a nap everyday and went to bed at a reasonable hour every night. he would usually fall asleep some random place in the tent because he would crawl out of his pack n play. it was pretty funny to see all of his funny places to fall asleep. one time we found he had crawled out put on his shoes and then crawled back in and fell asleep. after he was asleep Cambree would say, "I'm ready to go to bed now!" I tell ya when you have kids begging to go to bed everynight you would want to stay 5 more days too. They really played hard everyday and were exhausted by the time 8 o'clock rolled around

a pit stop to get some water. The water at the new campsite we went to was NASTY so we went back to our site the first night and got water there!

We took the kids on a hike one day. I had Bridger in the Ergo carrier and Cambree was walking we found this little trail that was super easy, crossed the river and went through the forest. Cambree was in heaven finding little creeks and whatnot. it was a really easy flat trail so we just kept on walking well we decided we had already been gone a couple hours so we better turn around. We let Cambree take her shoes and pants off and play in one of the creeks. She had fun chasing Charlie everywhere. Well after a few hours she was pretty much done. she started whining hard core. Well we got back to the start of the little trail, but not close to our campsite and realized it was a loop...we should have just stayed walking because we were pretty sure we were probably almost around the loop when we decided to turn around...so I think we ended up making the hike a couple hours longer by turning around...oops. anyway, Cambree by this point was pretty much in hysterics saying she was tired and her feet hurt. so we let Bridger walk and put Cambree on my back in the Ergo. well Bridger didn't want to walk so David put him on his shoulders. Then Cambree fell asleep and Bridger was trying desperately to sleep while also not falling off of David it was pretty funny to watch his head nod. Anyway, by this point we probably still had half a mile back to camp and Cambree was completely ZONKED on my back. Remember I had already carried Bridger for a few hours and then her dead weight was killing my hips. and David had to carry Bridger in a baby cradle in his arms because he was ZONKED, it was killing his back. We were a pretty funny sight when we finally walked into camp!! I was surprised we even made it back. Next time we have to remember we have to get back to camp so not to hike so long the first leg...and also we need to pay attention to signs seeing how it was a loop! My legs and hips were so sore the next day!


Even though I was tired and sore David and I left the kids with Cherie and we went on the 8 mile hike. thank goodness it wasn't really 8 miles. I think it was more like 6 maybe less. It was actually a harder hike then I tend to like. I have really bad knees so the steep slopes really hurt them and hiking down steep slopes is AWEFUL! But David really wanted to go and he really wanted me to go with him so I went. I wish I could say I didn't complain...but that wasn't true. I almost turned around after the first 500 yards. It was literally straight up...but I kept on trucking. and then barely made it down without my knees giving in. I actually had to hold onto David so I wouldn't fall. But despite that the views were SPECTACULAR! We hiked up to 8 mile lake hence the name of the trail.

At one point we had to cross a raging part of the river on these two logs...yeah the scene of rushing water right under your feet really messes with your head. I didn't like this bridge.

See I was there!

There was still snow in the tops of the mountains. yeah this lake was COLD!

David was definitely in his element climbing all of the rocks and taking in the views. He loves to hike...now only if his wife had decent knees and liked it too, hahaha!

At one point Aunt Loveta and the Quilter's joined us. somehow I didn't take any pictures of them. But we had a lovely time sitting around camp and chatting. On Monday the fourth Leavenworth had a big festival so we took the kids into town. Everything was FREE which was AWESOME!

playing with bubbles!

They had tons of games for the kids to play and candy and prizes galore. We also got free cotton candy, snow cones, popcorn, and drinks and apples! If you ask my kids it was the perfect lunch! HAHAHA!

They also had face painting! Cambree still talks about this from time to time!

of course we had to make a quick stop at the hat shop. This is what Cambree came up with, hahahaha!

Cambree LOVED the slip n slide. Sadly the line was always super long so she only got to go down twice.

We ended our trip with the firworks in Wenatchee on the river. We then drove the 3 hours home that night. I think this trip will be remembered for many many years! Those are the best kind of trips aren't they? Cambree still talks about camping! I LOVE IT!