It’s TRADITION! Memorial Day weekend marks our FIRST camp-out of the year! From here on we go camping at least one to two times a month. We are so excited for summer to be here and are looking forward to adventures in the SUN. I have to admit though that we were a little nervous to go with Allie. She is in that ‘crawling-get-into-everything’ stage, and I just didn’t know how we were going to keep her occupied... not to mention the fact that she is cutting THREE teeth all at the same time. (We made sure to stock up on baby meds!) We feared the worst for weather, (we cannot remember a weekend when it has not DUMPED rain on us), but love camping, love the company of our neighbors, and were ready for a break from our everyday routines.
We headed out to the John Day Dam Friday and camped at LaPage park. It really was a beautiful park and the weather was AMAZING! We experienced some wind, but ZERO rain! We just couldn’t believe how beautiful the weather was, especially considering the fact on the way down we drove through a torrential downpour. But it is true what they say! The weather IS better East of the Cascades.
After setting up camp we went off on our first boat ride of the season.
The kids were super excited!
The scenery was exquisite. It was so therapeutic to get away from the NW rainy weather.
We stopped to check-out some remote camping areas accessible by boat only. We saw a porcupine!
Love this face!
Saturday morning we woke up to this:
We spent the whole day relaxing in the sun, read some books (which NEVER happens!), did a little wakeboarding, fished, played some washers and just had a really nice time doing a whole lot of NOTHING.
Sunday was a little more cloudy, windy and chilly (but still not rainy!) We left camp for a nice hike around the Deschutes area, but first we stopped by the John Day Dam…
… and took pictures on an abandoned railway, which Malia was petrified of, thus the weird awkward smile.
Here we are packed up and ready for our hike! This was our ‘pre-hike’ to determine whether or not we will be able to take the girls out on an overnight hike later this summer… I just don’t know that we are ready yet. Each of our packs weighed 30 pounds I am sure, and that wasn’t including any overnight camping gear yet, or all the diapers that will have to be packed out…
Check out that smile… Malia LOVES hiking!
The scenery is so different here in the East part of the Gorge.
It’s so much more brown than green.
We saw a lot of birds, ginormous beetles, a deer, and one slithering SNAKE! Unfortunately my camera was put away, but we were just walking along and then BAM! A snake the length of the trail just slithered across. Apparently there is a a rattlesnake and tick watch out here… so were had our eyes on the look-out!
Allie was pretty grumpy when we first put her in the pack, but soon after she zonked.
This is such a silly ‘forlorn’ sort of picture!
We reached our destination only 3-4miles in at a pretty view point of the Deschutes River. 
The girlies were ready for a lunch break!
Nap time! Looks like a comfy place to sleep to me!
I love my Allie girl! She really was such a great camper! We expected much worse from here since she is having such a hard time with the teething. (She is cutting her other lower tooth and her two upper left ones... which is weird because usually the two upper center ones come in together, but whatever.) Allie slept more than normal and took 2-3 naps during the day instead of her usual one. When she wasn’t sleeping, she loved watching the kids play and tried to crawl her way to join them. She loved the grass, (crawling in it AND eating it), and even cruised her way between two camping chairs. Her night sleeping wasn’t too bad either. I pre-medicated at night with some ibuprofen since she wasn’t feeling well. To the other camper’s delight, she only fussed a few times at night, but went back down without trouble once her pacifier was back in. (The night before we left she screamed and cried to no avail! So we were pretty worried…)
We packed up camp on Monday, and ended the beautiful trip with a sunny boat cruise along the Columbia and John Day rivers.
Malia LOVES our camping and boating adventures. Allie is going to have to learn to enjoy our lifestyle too. But poor baby… she hates her life vest!
Malia is such a good camper. She loves the outdoors, and loves digging and rocks. She is such a crack-up! She wanted a picture posing with her new rock friends.
And I think Allie is all ready to get home and back to her daily routine!
Hooray for camping, sunshine and FAMILY time. I loved that we had some quality time spent with the kids this weekend. We each got to hold and snuggle our girls a little more than we normally would, just because we get so trapped by our daily responsibilities. We can’t wait for more opportunities to run away from everyday life!
