Camping Adventure

Yes it's true, we did actually go camping as a family. And not just one night, but two! Yes, there were times I thought it was crazy, but those were just passing and mostly it was pretty fun! 

Of the 3 of us, Ashlyn had the most fun I'm pretty sure! She LOVED being outside all the time and always having new things to explore. I was expecting to be chasing her all around constantly, but she really stuck pretty close. She never ever wandered out of our campsite. The downside was that our particular site happened to be on a slight incline, so if she got walking or running too fast she would eat it in the dirt, which happened more than a few times! Within the first 20 minutes we were there she was completely coated in dirt so I gave up caring about keeping her clean pretty quick. :)

The downside, which I was expecting from the beginning, was sleeping at night! We brought her pack n play and thought she might actually sleep in it... she did for about 2 hours the first night but then commenced screaming bloody murder to get out and well, what could we do, there were other people camping nearby! So she got to wander around the tent slash sleep in our sleeping bag with us, which equaled not a lot of sleep for anyone. But hey, it was just 2 nights so it wasn't the end of the world.

 Friday we drove around to the east side of Lake Cascade (did I mention that we camped on Lake Cascade? Well, that's where we were. French Creek to be exact.) and went on a little hike. To be honest, the hike sucked. Hardly any shade so we were all dying of heat. So we cut it short and headed into Cascade and found the city park and ate some lunch and let Ashlyn play around.

By that afternoon after we all attempted naps, I woke up (was woken up) in a super grouchy mood! I was so grumpy I didn't even want to do what we had originally planned--which was heading to a local hotsprings that we'd been to once years before. But luckily Collin talked me into it and I was SO GLAD we went! It was the highlight of the trip for sure! If you've ever been to Goldfork Hotsprings you know what I'm talking about. It is the Ritz Carlton of hotsprings, for sure! And yeah, the $8 a person definitely stings but it was sooo worth it. It is basically a spa environment, just what I needed! Ashlyn had a BLAST playing in all the little "waterfalls" between the pools, and there were a bunch of ritzy ladies there on some girls retreat who just thought she was the cutest *of course*!

The picture doesn't do it justice but really, that little escape was just what we needed! We all left feeling refreshed and happy! Basically, I guess it proves we are not such hardcore campers after all, right?!

 Later that night our buddies the Golds came up for the night! We roasted marshmallows and attempted to keep track of our kids. We all turned in pretty early due to the little ones, but none of us got much sleep! We had to put our tents right next to each other which was pretty funny. Ellie is just 3 months older than Ashlyn so between the 2 babies well, you can probably imagine. But it's all good! Memories, right! And really, I didn't mind snuggling with my little Ash all night, I don't get to do that much!

 By the way, I just love that picture of the 3 girls above. Oh Ellie. She just doesn't like to be too close to Ashlyn. But we love these 3 girls so much.

We had a super yummy breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage and then packed up and headed over to the east side of the lake again. We found a little beach area and hung out there for a while until we got too hot. Then the plan was to find a restaurant to eat at before heading home, but not 2 minutes after we got into the car Ashlyn was sound asleep! So we left the Golds to have their own yummy meal and stopped to get our own lunch at a gas station.... Dr. Pepper for me and Mtn. Dew for Collin! ha ha.

It was really fun to get out all our camping gear again and get up to camp for a couple of days. Definitely interesting with an 18-monther but it was fun family time. I am excited for next summer to see how it goes with Ashlyn being older. And thanks Chandra and fam for coming with us... it was really fun to get to hang out with you guys!