July Camping

 A little more about girls camp. . . first I have to mention the stinkin cute banner that my banner committee made.  It was pretty huge, and our ward unanimously voted it best banner in camp. You can't see the glitter detail or the names of the girls on the boats, but trust me, it's all kinds of cute.

 We didn't get to spend a ton of time in the ward camp, but we did sit with our girls at campfires and they loved the fact that Thad participated in all the goofy songs. And I loved that they came to take pictures with us as we were leaving for our hike.

And greeted us as we came back from the hike. A little sweaty and gross, but happy to be back.

I told the girls that so many things that week I would only do for them. Like sleep in a tent, or strap on a pack, or spend an entire week with no make-up. But it was worth it. And this is my partner in crime with the miamaids. We're awesome.

 We were challenged to memorize The Living Christ before camp and recited it each night around the campfire. I'm so glad I took the challenge, and am grateful for the chance to prepare a few devotionals for the hike. If the girls learned half as much as I did during the week it was a success.
We had a week to recover before we left for Thads family reunion in Lake Almanor, CA. Technically we were camping, because we stayed in a campground, but it was much more my style camping. As in a cabin with a king size bed and the kids had their own room. Perfect. The first full day there was Sunday so we had a relaxing day around the camp and Tenille showed off one of her many talents. She painted everyone's faces. Even Grandma & Grandpa Richards let her paint their faces. It was so fun.

 We spent several afternoons down at the lake and we had a sweet set up. We were able to drive all our vehicles right onto the beach area and set up instead of dragging all our supplies from a parking lot. And we had so many toys! We brought the jet skis of course.

 Tanya & Billy brought their boat and pulled everyone around on the tube all day.

 That was definitely the highlight of the week for the kids. Tenille brought cute little Kayaks that they paddles around the lake on and we even had a couple blow up boats and rafts. Here's Thad taking out little Ashlynn for a ride.

 We may have killed the relaxation station though, I think Thad towing it in fully loaded may have been it's final voyage.

 Peter spent most of his time digging in the sand.He was just so happy to play in dirt for hours on end.

And throwing sand, though this did not end well.

 He ended up with sand in his eyes and was so upset he cried himself to sleep and had a nice 2 hour nap under the shade tent with me.

 The kids were filthy the entire week. I mean the second we stepped out the door they were somehow covered in dirt. This picture was taken at breakfast, so we had been out of the house for like 10 minutes. And he looked like that most of the time.

 The kids were also catching things all week. Bugs, birds, crawdads, frogs. . . anything foolish enough to move in their line of sight was caught and "loved" and eventually released. Some did not survive.  And Thad was right in the middle of critter catching. That's a crawdad that Tenille snatched out of the water with a little toy net.

 One morning we took family pictures in our cute matchy t-shirts. They turned out really good this year, not too much photo shop required! It helps that the kids are getting bigger.

 

 The boys went out to the lake to attempt skiing and wake boarding one evening while we girls took the kids to a park. I brought this giant "rubber band" and it was fun. You basically sling shot each other back and forth in the band. It's so funny to watch.

 And Tenille caught this cute shot of peter on the toys. I had not idea those swirly things were actually slides, but Peter just kept twirling right down them.

 We spent one afternoon at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Sammy could not get over the fact that the mountains were actually volcanos.  Blew his mind. The visitors center had a sign that said "ask a ranger how to earn a free bandana" so of course the kids had to do it. One of the requirements was to find a meadow, and through I can't remember the exact wording, it basically said frolic in the meadow. So they frolicked. I'm pretty sure there was some sound of music singing happening as well.

There was a stream running through the meadow and Sammy attempted to jump it. Obviously it did not go well.

 They also had to find a lake and run around the entire thing. We found a beautiful small one that was actually a glacier pond. No stream in or out, just snow melt.

We watched while the dads and kids traversed the perimeter.

 All in all it was a great week. Great weather, great food, tons of fun, and so so so many pictures! Thads mom and sisters now how to make sure things are well documented. And this is one of my favorites. Peter with his great Grandma Richards just hanging out. And 94 and 98 we're not sure how many more reunions they'll be attending, but we love having them with us.

 Side note: Sammy lost his first tooth a few days before our vacation. He was the last of his buddies to loose a tooth so he was very excited.