Camping in Heaven

Tree of Heaven that is :) We had our annual camp out with Daddy's family and family friends, the Grantlands, this summer. I had sweaty memories of our similar camping trip last year, but this year was much more manageable in the heat category!
This camping trip is always a great time with Grandma and Poppin. We get to see them often since we live in the same town, but we don't get to spend many 24 hour or more stretches of time with them. It's usually a quick dinner here and there instead of the full weekends we get with Mommy's family. Plus, cousins Blake and Hailey are there! We are always so excited for this trip!
Grant was his usual go-get-'em self the whole time. He loves camping and being outdoors (just like his Daddy!). He is really in his element while camping. He is such a happy boy, and everyone enjoys being around him!
Aubrie was a trooper too. I wouldn't go as far as to say that she loves camping (give it time), but she certainly enjoyed herself for the most part. She was a relatively new walker at this point, but she didn't let that stop her. She was all over the camp site and loved running circles in the tent!
Tree of Heaven is always a fun place to camp because of the river. We get to take advantage of the Grantland's boats and float the river. The kids love playing in the water and trying out Jim and Vickie's stand up paddle boards.
This year, like many others, was a wonderful trip. We love enjoying God's creation with family and friends!

7 Years!

The longer we are married, the more we realize how important it is to make time to spend together. Living busy lives with two kiddos doesn't leave much room for time for just the two of us. We have to MAKE IT, it doesn't just happen! Our anniversary has always been a time that we take the opportunity to do something special without the kids. It is a wonderful reason to celebrate and remember a beautiful day!
Summer was a bit busy for us this year, so we squeezed in a couple days alone while we were in Florence. The kids loved staying with Gammy and Poppop.

Our first stop was our favorite little coffee shop...

 Then we drove up the coast to enjoy the views...

We stayed a little ways up the river at The Blue Heron Inn...

Had a yummy dinner on Bay Street...

An after-hours dock sit with ice cream at our favorite coffee shop (we just happen to know people)...

The next day we drove to Heceta Beach and walked up to the newly refurbished lighthouse for a tour...

It was nothing terribly extravagant, but so wonderful to spend some quality time together!

Grant Goes Backpacking

I bet many of you have stopped reading/checking my blog! I have gotten SO bad about keeping up with it. Sorry! But if you just happened to check it today...surprise! :)

This summer we took Grant on his first backpacking trip. Backpacking is something that Daddy has loved doing for a long time. He was so excited to get Grant out there doing it. He planned out a perfect first trip for him. We only hiked about a mile, and Grant made it no problem! As it ended up, it was a really good thing that we were so close to the trailhead...Grant would not do #2 in the woods! We had to hike him back out to the outhouse a couple times.

We were so excited to take Gammy and Auntie Addi with us. It was their first backpacking trip too. It was a wonderful trip all except for the flies...they were everywhere! But we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway, and Grant loved his first backpacking trip!

And a big "thank you" to Grandma and Poppin who watched Aubrie Girl for us!

Daddy's Day

We got home from one of our camping trips in time to celebrate Father's Day at Grandma and Poppin's house. The dads played a competitive cornhole tournament while the moms and kids relaxed and enjoyed the day. I am so thankful to have a husband like Paul to be Daddy to my kids. He is an amazing dad who truly loves his kids and loves spending time with them. They can't get enough of him! His every moment at home is spent doing things with them. I love him so much and am lucky to partner in parenting with him!

June Campouts

We got to go camping two times in June.

The first was at Hyatt Lake with some of our friends and their friends. It was a camp ground that we've never been too before, but it ended up being really nice. Our site was right on the lake, so the kids could play in the water and go in the boat. One of the families there had a little boy that was close to Grant's age. They had a blast riding their bikes and "fishing" from the boat. I decided to get a little creative with our camping food this time. We had nachos over the fire and the yummiest marshmallow/chocolate/banana/strawberry cones over the fire (thank you Pinterest). We took a small hike to another lake, and the kids had a blast building a fort. This campout was a little interesting in that Aubrie had just started learning how to walk but couldn't do it very well yet. So she spent most of her time "knee walking", getting completely dirty! It was Father's Day while we were there, so Paul enjoyed being with his kids in the great outdoors!

Our next camping trip was with the Stone family. We went to Look Lake (as usual). Daddy wasn't able to come this time :(. We had to move the trip up a few days since it was supposed to rain, and he wasn't coming until the weekend. Uncle Jordan, Aunt Iggy, Henry, and Hosanna were in Oregon at that time, and came with us...but they ended up getting sick the first night and headed back to the house. (The yucky sickness was slow moving and ended up hitting everyone except my kids and Henry throughout the course of the week.) Grant was in his element, swimming, playing in the sand, building fires, and playing with sticks and stuff. Aubrie...still not completely walking...was dirty again. She doesn't seem to love camping, but I'm sure it will get better once she can get around better.