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Camping Trip 2016

We planned a fun and exciting camping trip with our wonderful friends. I think Brad and I are pretty darn lucky to A) have a great group of adult friends and B) have adult friends with similar interests and kids, to boot. We decided to camp at Klahowya, a great little campground nestled between Pt. Angeles and Forks. Plus, our friends vanagon, Snickers, and our conversion van, Mayday, are both presently out of commission due to repairs and upgrades---hence, tent camping it was. Thank goodness for gorgeous weather! It was perfect location for us to venture to the Discovery Trail to bike ride, hike the Sol Duc and dip in the hot springs, and enjoy a day at the Pacific Ocean beaches. I feel very fortunate to have this all at our fingertips. Only one cold/misty rain type of day, which was spent at the hot springs anyhow. Upon arrival at Rialoto Beach, we enjoyed witnessing a humpback breech off shore and tail slap, as well as numerous spouts and backs of whales feeding in the Pacific off shore. Made my weekend!


Our wonderful friends have children in either the same stage of life as ours. Our almost 5-year-old wanted to push boundaries as far as she could until one of us was bargaining with her about listening. No major melt downs (no, she waits until we are home, where she screams bloody murder in her room without ceasing, for attention), so I was slightly impressed by that. It seemed, though, they would reach the "witching hour" between 4-7pm, where meltdowns, "Me!Me!Me!" phase, collided with over-exhaustion. It wasn't so bad and thank goodness our kiddo's shenanigans ended around 7:30 so we could have "quality adult time" around the campfire which was "checking the cracks in my eyelids" and "I have to stay awake to enjoy this!" as we were just as exhausted by the end of our fun days with our kids. But cheers to campfire conversations, breaking out in random song, great company, and adult beverages. Before taking off on our camping trip, I had to laugh when I read this woman's blog post about camping with kids...because it's true. Check it out for a laugh. Camping with kids

But the best part was Jaxson. It was his first official camping trip and as any mother would be, I was nervous. We were going to be out of his routine, not in a place he would consider home, It would be radically different. Even when we went camping with Maddy for the first time, those same feelings overcame me and she was relatively great. But Jax---what a trooper. He slept like a charm, and was just down right content and happy. Seriously, don't want to jinx it, but best.baby.ever. Now, hopefully that laid back, content, happy demeanor sticks with him as he gets older and becomes a terrible toddler/five year old, I'd be happy.

I put together a slideshow of some of my favorite pics from the weekend. We had a blast and I can't wait to do it again. I am fortunate to watch my kids grow with their forever friends, Quince and Olivia, and build stronger relationships and friendships with their amazing parents. Until next time...Enjoy the slide show!







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