Memorial Day Weekend

A crescent moon at Crescent Lake!

We had big plans for memorial day weekend! We were going to go camping at Diamond Lake. The reports were in showing great fishing and we got a killer deal on a canoe (early Father's Day gift for Justin) so we were excited to go! The weather reports looked great so Friday afternoon we packed up and finally hit the road around 7:pm. The closer we got to Diamond Lake the more snow we saw on the side of the road. We were still hopeful until we pulled off the main road headed to the lake. There was a lot of snow. We decided we did not want to set up the tent in the dark AND snow so off we went to find a new lake. Thankfully Justin loves to learn about the area we live in so he knew of a good place. We finally found the perfect campground at 10:30 at Crescent Lake. This was after starting to consider a hotel for that night. We have used the same tent for 12 years now so Justin can pitch it pretty quick. We got all tucked in just in time for our camping neighbors to get drunk and LOUD! They partied until 3:am! Thank goodness for ear plugs.

12 years and 8 different states and this tent is showing some wear but still has plenty of campouts in it's future!

Saturday we started a fire to get warmed up and took the canoe out for it's maiden voyage. The kids were not huge fans at first because they had to sit on the cold aluminum and any water that got splashed into the boat ended up under their bums. Add to that the fact that it was not all too warm and they were more than happy to get back to the campground. We ate a quick lunch then loaded up the boat in search of calmer water and better fishing. As we were driving the rain started. It started and didn't really stop. So we just kept driving and exploring through the truck's windows. We were not very excited to go back to camp and what we assumed would be a soggy tent and wet firewood so we cheated and went to Dairy Queen for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to find out our campground appeared to be the only spot in the area that stayed dry!

La-La trying to start her own mini fire. She came close but never quite succeeded.

Jaco & Care Bear getting a little crazy and out of control in the tent. These two know how to get each other worked up into a CRAZY frenzy!

 Justin really wanted to take the canoe out again but the kids and I were done with the day. He took the only one not able to say yes or no; Cody! Cody seemed to enjoy himself and Justin thoroughly enjoyed watching the sun set from the lake. At bedtime we were hopeful that our complaint to the camp host about the noisy neighbors would work. They were still loud but thankfully they stopped earlier. Add to that the fact that we were all super tired and we all slept better.

Pretty Sunset!

Justin and Cody on their solo ride.

Sunday morning was sunny and chilly so we warmed up again by the fire. We played and hung out in the campground then packed up some lunch and headed out to find a hike. A local recommended  a nearby hike so we headed out. Unfortunately we were fresh warm blood for some starving mosquitos. If we stopped to rest, they took advantage of our lack of movement and swarmed in. Then we were disappointed when we hit snow and had to turn around before we made it to Pretty lake. We decided it wouldn't be very smart to risk losing the trail in the snow when we were hiking in the wilderness and no one knew we were there. The kids were not terribly disappointed to head back down the mountain; especially Jaco. The highlight of the hike was La-La finding a perfect little blue speckled egg. She was so excited! When we got in the car, she took it out of my padded camera case. She got excited about something and all of a sudden she felt something wet and slimy on her hand. The fragile shell couldn't withstand her excitement. She was sad and I was sad for her but couldn't help but laugh when we discovered a perfect round yellow yolk plopped on her lap.

Start of the hike to Pretty Lake.

Perfect little egg found by a happy little La-La!

End of the hike. Too much snow made it so we couldn't safely get to the lake.

Shocked & sad La-La with an egg yolk in her lap.

3 carzy cute kiddos!

Natures see-saw! A fun bouncy tree.

As soon as we made it back to camp itchy from all the skeeter bites, we headed out on the lake again. We pulled along Jaco's blow up raft and headed to a very calm area so he could boat safely. We had to duck under a bridge to get to the pond area for Jaco. A little tricky but we did it. Jaco was quite disappointed when we realized his boat had sprung a leak. We let him float around for a few minutes but decided it would not be safe to let him go for very long. We rowed back to camp and started a late but super tasty dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and melon. Even Cody enjoyed dinner with scraps of meat and two tasty bones. The best part of the day was watching our loud mouth neighbors pack up and leave! The evening was almost too quiet with them gone but we did not complain one bit!

Tasty dinner cooking...mmmm good!

Cody thoroughly enjoyed his bones from the steaks.

Sky writing with fire!

Family canoe ride. See the bridge in the background? We had to go under it!

Jaco's last boat ride in this raft. He was sad to say good-bye to it but as you can see it was losing air!

Daddy's Girls!

I don't think Care Bear ate one single smellow. She just kept burning them over and over. Then she figured out she could burn one layer and pull it off. She showed this one to me and informed me her marshmellow had taken off it's clothes. 

 

 

 Monday morning Justin took Care Bear, Jaco, and Cody out in the canoe while La-La and I packed up the tent. We enjoyed one more camp meal and then packed up and headed out. It was a great weekend of playing together as a family but it was nice to come home to our warm soft beds.