We headed off for our last camping trip of the summer on Saturday, we came home on Tuesday. We actually lucked out big time! We met a couple (Rene and Jennifer) during Kayda's t-ball. Their son Ryan played on Kayda's team and they have a little boy (Ethan) as well. Well, I spent many a game talking to one or the other of them and decided that I really enjoyed their company so I invited them to come to Lake Chelan with us. They decided to be brave and came along! It was FANTASTIC. I am so excited to have another family to go camping with, not that I don't enjoy camping with our extended family but this was totally different and lots of fun! The kids got along great and even better the adults got along great! The nice thing about Lake Chelan (you must overlook the no fires and no dogs rules) is that most everything is within walking distance..the swimming area, a pretty good park, miniature golf, go carts, the burger place, even the main shopping strip (though we drove to that because we had some children that were getting tired).
The kids got a fair amount of bike riding in. Carson decided that he liked to ride in his stroller and would occassionally walk over to it and point at it (which is his way of telling us what he wants). Ryan is the boy on the right in the green shirt. Even though he and Kayda played t-ball together Ryan is actually closer to Dillon's age and the two boys had a BLAST together.
Each of the kids got these little ninja swords, Dillon quickly figured out how to get the advantage by extending the reach.
The lake water is beautifully clear, the only problem is the beach is pea gravel, the perfect size to be annoying to walk on and constantly get stuck between your toes. The kids had no complaints though. They had a great time in it, throwing it, digging in it, piling it up, burying drift wood, pushing it around...
Ryan and DIllon had fun swimming, though they could touch bottom where they were. Their favorite thing was to chase a little inflatable pirate ship some other kids had.
Kayda saw this drift wood, went and dragged it over to be near the towels and hung out with it for quite a while. You'd think it was a favorite pet or something the way she's sitting with it.
Kayda has developed a new favorite game. She likes to take things that people want/need. In this particular instance it was Daddy's flipflops (which she also took at Maryhill State Park). There is another "game" she decided to play which I'll explain a little later.
There's that pirate ship with Dillon chasing along behind.
Happy to be swimming with Daddy!
The kids had a great time at the park, Carson LOVES to explore and is a great climber now.
Dillon's face cracked me up in this picture! Sorry for the blurriness in this and a few other pictures. It was that twilight time of day where cameras just don't seem to do well.
Carson LOVED going down this slide on his tummy!
Kayda, Dillon and Ryan decided that it was hilarious to swing in the baby swings.
We set up the chairs in a circle so we could visit more easily. Normally there would be a fire in the middle but this campground doesn't allow them. So we teased Kayda and said "Go get two pieces of wood and start a fire." We didn't have to show her how, she went and get to pieces of wood and get to work. No, she didn't get any sparks.
Since no fires were allowed and smores are an essential component of camping we used the stove. Jennifer was trying her luck with it. It is actually pretty difficult to roast marshmellows over a propane stove.
Our "campfire circle"
Breakfast! These kids wanted to do everything together.
Ryan decided to play with Carson and he LOVED it.
And here is Kayda's other game. It's the "pop into a picture unexpectedly" game. Course she's super cute so the picture turned out good whether it was of her or the other kids.
Sneaking more things, in this case it was the table cloth clips.
"Ryan the balls over there!"
"Got it Carson!"
While Rene was attempting to put Ethan down for a nap we hit the miniature golf course. I started out trying to keep score and deal with Carson, shortly there after Carson was in the stroller and I was keeping score.... then it became quite impossible to keep score, you'll see why...
He hung out happily in his stroller with his crackers and water for almost the entire time!
This was about the 9th hole I believe, we stopped trying to keep any sense of order so they were all going to take their first stroke at once. Little did we know this would cause a new game to be invented.
Ready....set.....
GO!!!
Introducing Minature Golf-Hockey. They would hit the ball and run along with it to hit it again as soon as it stopped or slowed down enough. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch!
Pause for a picture in front of the lake!
GO!!!
Once mini golf-hockey was over we HAD to do go carts. Carson sat in his stroller and watcher (happily for most of it) while we all raced. So... no pictures, sad.
Later that day at the swim area the kids wanted to be buried. This was a great time for Carson to attack Dillon. He thought it was hilarious that Dillon's legs were gone and kept poking Dillon's stomach.
Playing with Carson in the swing.
...and on the slide. Kayda was sad that she "didn't have a girl to play with" so she hung out with Mommy and Carson. She is a great big sis.
Gnomes!!!
In all that chaos I didn't get a single picture of Ethan!!! Sad... I think he was asleep most of the time I was taking pictures or not next to my kidlets. I'll have to make sure I get one next year! It was a great trip with friends!
