Inagural Camping Trip...

It seems to have suddenly hit us that our boys are growing up.  Just as we blinked and they were out of diapers, it is clear that we are going to blink, and they will be graduated.  

I realized after Boston that my running was becoming all too consuming.  Not just running, but keeping track of it on different sites, blogging, and other junk.  I've deleted my daily mile account, "unfriended" some of the people that I connected with on facebook who I will never really meet and threw any sort of plan out the window.

So, to focus more on family, we bought a used/cheap tent trailer.  Best investment ever.

This weekend (Memorial Day) we took the boys camping for the first time EVER!

We headed to Wallowa Lake with Nana for our the big trip.  It was a blast!  Although we were the only tent trailer in the park....we like to think we red-necked the place up!  We were surrounded by houses on wheels.  It was actually comical.  The boys kept saying that they were all "cheating".  Little did they know that someday, daddy and I plan on cheating too.  But for now, it is about them, roughing it and being together.

 Here we are getting all set up in our little humble abode.  

Michael and I camped a lot in Alaska, so camping here was no big deal.  In fact, we were a little spoiled.  The temp was a little cool for nana, but we kept the heater running for her.  It was overcast, but beautiful.  The boys were able to ride their scooters, run around and actually waded in the lake a little bit.

 

I think Jacob's face shows exactly how the boys felt about this trip!

 This is one end of the camper.  We slept down here.  (I am also happy to report that Nana brought the sodas and ALL of them came home.  My kids just aren't soda drinkers!)

Dinner the first night.  

Forcing daddy into a picture!

Doing dishes with mom.  For some reason, this is one of my favorite parts of camping....

 Here we are after our first morning!  Nicholas actually slept up with Nana, but was getting down to snuggle with brother and Jesse!

 My men making coffee for nana and I.  Loving the outdoors.....

 We did ride the gondola to the top of Mt. Howard.  It was almost 9000 ft above sea level....quite the ride, but totally worth it.  That is a picture of Wallowa Lake.

 Nana and her boys.  There really isn't much she won't do for them.  I know they realize how lucky they are, but someday, they will really appreciate the times they have spent with her and the vivid memories they have with her.

We wrapped up our trip with breakfast out on our way home.

We bought a journal during this trip that is going to stay in the camper.  It was fun to write in it each day.  We played lots of games, took many walks and really worked together.  

Getting home and unpacking was actually pretty fun too.  It has taken a couple of days to get the laundry done, but totally worth it.

And for my running junky friends out there....I am enjoying freedom running right now.  Easy 4-6 milers every day.  Biking a little here and swimming a little there.  It is fabulous.  We are going to savor this summer and hopefully a few more by 

exploring our neck of the woods with the trailer in tow.