Campout!

Remember this summer when we went camping in Bend? 

I do.

We had a good time. 

The weather was perfect, I packed tons of food, we were with our favorite friends, and the weekend was over too quickly.  Let me tell you all about it.

We went over Labor Day weekend.  Saturday morning we got up and I asked Eva to get dressed to go camping.  This is what she chose to wear into the dirt and dust – a sparkly tutu.  You just can’t take the girly out of this girl.  I love it.

We loaded the car and began our trip with Goldfish and a movie.

And ended our trip 3 days later with a cave and bat guano.  Have you ever been in a cave?  It’s darkness like I’ve never experienced before.  And it’s cold.  And damp.  But you should try it.  We went to the Lava River Cave, and although Eva was wearing flip flops and the park rangers gave me disapproving looks, we trekked on and had a fun adventure.   

So what did we do in the middle of our trip?  Well, I’ll tell ya. 

We went canoeing and tried desperately not to tip with the two 5-year-old girls horsing around in the canoe.  (We didn’t tip.  Michael is quite an accomplished canoe-driver).

We ate Dippin’ Dots while waiting to rent our canoe.  Cuz that’s a really outdoorsy thing to do.

We went hiking, where Eva insisted on climbing on every log that was straddling the river.  Once she slipped and almost fell into the current.  I almost had a heart attack.

We went tubing in the Tumalo river and it was so cold it made my eyes water.  I was the unfortunate oaf who slammed into a rock and capsized.  As the frigid river rushed over my body, I could barely eek out a scream.  Michael and Eva laughed and laughed.  Eva mentioned the catastrophe just the other day and again, she laughed and laughed.  Man, that water was so stinking cold!  But the kids didn’t seem to notice.  What is wrong with them?

We also had plenty of time to hang around camp and play and compare drawings.  There was a playground near our campsite, and anytime we were at camp, the kids were off making friends and getting filthy.

We also went to the Oregon Observatory to look at the night sky.  It was breathtaking!  We saw Saturn and Mars through telescopes but the number of stars you could see even with the naked eye was astounding.  And the Milky Way as well!  It was mesmerizing.  The observatory will be a return trip for us sometime in the future.

Ahhh…summertime camping trip.  Do I dare admit that I enjoyed it?  I certainly did.

But only once a year.  Once is enough.