2 Camping Trips, 1 Week

The kids and I went with five other moms and 12 other kids camping at Moran State Park on Orcas Island at the beginning  of this week. It was a riot and we are already talking about doing it again next year!

Here we are unloading. Our campsite was up the hill behind the pavilion.

 This is Cascade Lake. Soooo serene.

 Taylor's on the left, I'm on the right. #REIbuddies

 Julie started the first night's fire like a boss.

 The kids were sure to huddle around and throw in sticks and give plenty of advice.

 This was central camp, where we gathered for shared meals and nighttime s'mores roasting and girl talk after the kids were asleep. I measure the success of my summer according to the number of s'mores I've consumed. This year, even though it's only officially the first week into summer, I've had approximately 80 s'mores. It goes without saying that I am not finished. I want s'more s'mores.

 We took the kids on a 2 mile round trip hike to see Cascade Falls.

 My kids were not excited and Sienna was crying before we even left. "I don't want to go on a hike!!!!!!" she yelled. Luckily, Taylor took her under her wing and distracted her with some storytelling.

 She was really happy by the end! Nice work, Taylor.

 Snacks and chatting at the top.

 Noah and Elliott getting their feet wet.

 Sienna was crying and calling for help when I took this picture.

Adam told me, "that hat is ridiculous." Fair enough. I will keep wearing it.

 We spent the afternoon at Cascade Lake. Look at that sky! We were expecting rain and clouds.

 Harper was toast by dinner.

 The evening of the second night, Sienna had a bad fall on the hill above our campsite and I was afraid I'd have to take her to the hospital that night or the next day because of a broken tail bone. She couldn't walk or sit so she went to bed early and laid in the tent all next morning as I packed up to go home. Luckily, she perked up on the ride home and was running and playing by the time we got on the ferry. She only has a tiny bruise on her bum, you'd never know she was hurt at all. While she was resting in the tent at bedtime, Noah and I took a walk to see the lake in all its glory. Gorgeous!

 Goodbye fellow moms and kids! See you next year!

Oh, but we are not finished camping yet! On Wednesday, I got back to Seattle around 3 pm, had to pick up another tent, went home, showered and dressed and had to go to a fireside to kick off Youth Conference. The next morning, Adam and I headed to Arlington, Washington, (north one hour) to a church-owned property called Cascade Park. We traded our toddlers for teens for the next three days.

Here we are setting up with our assigned family of seven teenagers.

 And here are our seven precious bundles of joy, minus the kid in the white head scarf who is loving the fact that he powned our family picture. Who is that?

 Samantha, Azalea, Cami, Sam.

 Emily and Adam.

 Robert and Hayden.

 I had so much maternal love just pouring out of me toward these kids, it was kind of crazy. I anticipated a lot of cell phone rule breaking and constant eye rolling....what I got instead was the best time ever. Some kids even said the words, "I don't even have a cell phone." and "I'm not on Facebook." My faith in humanity was restored!

Here's the group performing a hip hop dance we learned to Ariana Grande's song Problem. We felt really cool.

Here's the amphitheater before it filled up for testimony meeting, aka the night I realized how hard it is to be a teenager around here and how truly impressive these kids are.

 Ma and Pa selfie! Not the most romantic weekend without kids ever, but definitely the most spiritual. It was just what we needed, I think.

 Goodbye church camp. We really are done camping now....until next month!