A Weekend of Camping + Hiking

I had this past weekend off work and it lined up perfectly with or plans! Last summer we weren't able to do many family excursions because I was always at work on the weekends. It was pretty frustrating, so this year I asked to have a few random weekends off work and it's been wonderful!

We had been wanting to take another camping trip with the kids and Grandma was wanting us to come out for an afternoon to meet a gentlemen she's been dating for a couple months named John. Perry and I decided we'd go camp, and meet up with them on Saturday. Getting ready for this trip out was a lot less stressful than when we went in June because everything was already together in our camping tote. I however forgot a few kitchen things...oops!

 After we drove around for a little bit, we settled on a site next to some others, and it worked our just fine. Once the tent was up, we spend about half an hour getting sticks and branches to make a fire. Hunter played in the river during this but JP was quite the help!

Ms. Gail also played in the river and was torqued that her dress got wet. It didn't help that going potty outside isn't one of her strong suits either...

In the morning after tossing and turning all night, we cooked up some scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. HD didn't eat much because his stomach hurt. We then headed to the cabin to meet John and head out with him and Grandma to hike to Morrell Falls. On the way up to the trail head, HD puked in the car. That was awesome...

 Once he threw up he felt much better and enjoyed running up and down the trail hitting things with his stick. Ms. Gail took the easy way up the mountain by riding on dad's shoulders. 

 She walked occasionally, but not for very long.

 On our way up, we stopped at this little opening for the kids to rest a bit. 

 John spotted a few huckleberries and picked a few for the kids to try. 

 Some hikers on their way back from the falls stopped and offered to take a group photo. Yay! All my kids are looking!

 

The falls was beautiful when we finally arrived! So calming to watch!

 Ahhhh.....

 [insert shameless selfie here] 

 On the way back down, JP found two caterpillars, who were later named Fred and Lucky, and carried them all the way back to Grandma's cabin. Ms. Gail attempted to carry one of her own home too, but later opted to put it in the mesh pocket of my backpack and ride on dad's shoulders again. 

She ended up falling asleep in his arms. Shortly thereafter, her caterpillar made its way out of the pocket and onto my hand where I jumped and flung it off before I realized it was her caterpillar. I told her that was going to happen!

 At the cabin, John grilled us mooseburgers for dinner and they were delicious! Before heading back to our campsite a few miles down the road, we had a cherry pit spitting contest and roasted marshmallows down by the river while HD looked for crawdads. At camp we wasted a little time playing on Snapchat. Hahaha!

This one kills me!  

 The next morning looked a little rough for the kids. When I left the tent they were all nestled in their bags, but by the time I came back Ms. Gail was just waking up.

 Poor JP hates mornings! Lol! 

 Again while we were packing up the tent, HD was down looking for more crawdads.

I went down to check on him right before he found "the biggest one I've ever seen" and he was so excited that he caught it! We spent the rest of the afternoon at home unpacking and cleaning out my car. By evening we started (and finished!) a 1000 piece puzzle, taking break to eat huckleberry pancakes for dinner!