Camping

The beginning of July we took a fun little camping trip to the White Mountains. It was beautiful! We loved getting out of the valley heat and enjoying the great outdoors. I think my favorite part of the trip was letting life slow down and just being able to enjoy my little family. I hope that my kids remember these trips as they get older. I am grateful for the wonderful memories they provide for us at least!

Our first day consisted mostly of loading up our car and driving. I think we filled it up to the fullest capacity that I have ever seen us fill it up to.

Then on our drive into the campsite we saw some bucks and then a little later these beautiful does and fawns.
The next day we had fun!! The girls were really enjoying the outdoors.
I did their hair in braids hoping they would stay like that the remainder of the trip. I should have known better. But hey, at least they looked cute!
Lydia posing it up in her shades.
Even though Claire is out of focus, I love the way she is looking at Lydia. You can tell in this picture how much Claire loves her sister and admires her.
Jeff wanted to teach the girls how to fish. They just wanted to throw rocks in the stream. It didn't last long fishing with the girls. :)

Cheese!

Jeff did kind of show them how to fish, but they were having a hard time sitting there and waiting. Lydia got it a little bit, but we had too big of a pole for her.
Claire just liked sitting there with Jeff and being in on the action.
Claire really liked the tackle box though.
Claire was tired, so we left, and I got this shot of Jeff and Lydia.
That night we roasted marshmallows. Claire had woken up so early that she crashed and missed it that night. Lydia thought it was great! She loved trying to get them just right and not burning them to a crisp. Although she thought burning them to a crisp was pretty funny.
Our third day it rained, so we didn't do much. But it was so fun to just relax and play with my girls. We made the mistake of not bringing enough stuff for the girls to do, but we improvised. Jeff was determined to catch a fish, so we didn't see him too much.

We were relaxing and getting dinner ready when I suddenly hear Jeff calling for me and come out to find him with a fish. It was small, but he was proud, and I must admit, it was a pretty tasty fish all cooked up!

Jeff: The fish was indeed small, but it was delicious, both bites. Lydia and Claire loved the hammock, and played in it quite a bit. You can tell that Lydia got quite filthy while we were up there. But what is a camping trip without getting all dirty? :)
Claire did roast marshmallows with us this night, but we forgot to get a picture. Lydia was trying to teach her. It was so sweet. Here Claire is waiting for her turn in the hammock.
The fourth day was our last day. And to prove I was there, here is me in my pajama's watching the girls play before we got ready to leave. The girls were so sad to leave, but we told them we would go camping again.
This is the beautiful area that we were able to camp in.
The storms were gone at this point, and we had beautiful blue skies.

We had a wonderful time, and I loved the quiet simpleness of the outdoors. It was so fun to be able to share it with my children and spend some good quality time with them and Jeff.

I'll be getting more posts up in the next little while. The motivation to post has been seriously lacking lately, so hopefully I'll find the time and motivation to get some more posts up!