Our family camping trip had a last minute location change because there were trees falling down at Huntington Lake, so we ended up at a new reservoir, which was a lot of fun, even if the camping situation wasn't quite as ideal (the RV and tent camping are a little separated, and they couldn't get us all together anyway because of the last minute reservation). But we made it work, and had lots of fun water time during the week.
The back of the van--I can't believe we managed to get everything in without the car topper, which we realized that we can't use since we got the new van and it doesn't have the luggage racks on top. It was tight, but by having the kids all squish in the middle row, we were able to fold the back row down and pack to the ceiling. Everything we needed for 5 days of camping.
We had several new cousins join us. Aunt C got married this last year and has 5 more kids, 4 of whom still live at home and came along. They were a perfect addition for our older kids and proved to be a lot of fun.
Having so many cousins on a campout made for a very fun time. We missed the other families that didn't make it this year, and wished that everyone could have come for the whole week, but it was so great to see people when we could.
They're a pretty funny bunch of kids.
And the whole group. (I'm hoping someone else got a better picture. There is always a risk when asking a young teen to take your family picture, and this was the least blurry of the choices.)
Because we were more spread out this year than normal, we ended up eating most of our meals in our own campsite, which had some advantages (kids actually ate because they weren't distracted.)
And we had some pretty good food--taco salad, one of my favorite camp meals because it's so easy to have everything ready ahead of time.
We did get together for the annual Tri-tip Cookoff.
Guess who's tri tip won this year?! (They were all incredible tasting, as always.)
We had some great desserts together, too. Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Bread Pudding,
and birthday cake for the newest 7 year old in the family :)
Some games were played, and others were played with.
We had lots of time down by the water. It was about a 5 minute drive from the campground, so we'd bring along a bunch of chairs, food, and all the water toys and spend most of the afternoon swimming and playing each day.
There was a lot of this,
and even more of this. Epic mattress battles.
A few of us went for a hike one morning down to the Merced River.
It was a beautiful hike, with some serious inclines.
I was so proud of Peanut who was the only little one who came with us, and while there may have been a little complaining, he did the whole 5 miles.
My hiking buddy for the trip back up. I'm not a fast uphill hiker, so I was happy to accompany him for the return trip out of the river valley.
We found so many pretty wildflowers!
It was perfect Sierra hiking.
We spent another morning at Courtright Reservoir
so Daddy-o, Grandpa and Uncle I. could take a few of the boys fishing.
While they did that, Bean and I went for a little hike around the lake and spent some time practicing our rock skipping.
We both got pretty good--I think our record was 8 skips or so.
Peanut caught his first fish!
He was so proud
Bean sketching and painting
All the little boys with Grandpa
Daddy-o with his fish. Everyone caught one so we ended up with enough to bring back for lunch.
I took an early morning hike one day.
The trails near the campground were beautiful, and I was only mildly nervous about running into a bear. I'm always conflicted about solo hiking--I love the quiet time in the forest, but then I have this fear that I'm doing something unsafe.
Look at this tree growing out of the rock! It's amazing how tough these trees are.
View of the reservoir
And back to the water--I'll leave the rest of the water play pictures here at the end. Such a great week of laughing and playing and outdoor time.
