family camping

My number one summer request was to go camping all together just our little family. It was everything I wanted. 

Snuggles, walks, games, dirt, talks, books, hammocks, campfires...everything that makes camping great.

And then when we had planned to go down to the reservoir, it rained and poured. So we changed our plans and drove away from the storm and into Winslow AZ.

We stopped at the museum. Where the nice lady was very kind to us after we explained about Perry's autism.

We sang the song as we were "standin' on the corner in winslow Arizona"...

We got some ice cream.

Get your kicks on route 66...

Kyler and I walked to this historical site--La Posada, where the Harvey Girls worked.


We made a stop at the Root Beer Stand. Kyler and I watched them redo this place on HGTV so it was fun to visit.

My absolute favorite memory of the weekend was piling into the trailer when it was pouring rain. I loved having all of us together in that small space with no distractions, the rain falling down, out in nature, laughing (or complaining) about the adventure of the rain.

 



On our way back home we stopped to hike natural bridge. This place is gorgeous!

I love each of these kids so much and I'm so grateful to be their mom.

I love this man and the life we have created together. Well, I don't love every single thing about our life, but I do love the majority. :)












It was a little/lot sad for me to think that this was our last camping trip all together for at least 3 years!!

camping

I love camping because my children live as one with mother nature, like this:

Covered head to toe in dirt, searching for bugs, making forts, sitting on rocks, smiling and contented the whole while.

Brinna named that rock "Sea World" and fought for its possession the entire three days.


We took this group of kids on a "hike" along a nearby trail.






They spent so much time collecting caterpillar bugs. 

Swinging in the hammocks was the next favorite activity after the bug collecting (and the reason why Layla came home with a scraped up eye and couldn't put her goggles on for days).

We took the paddleboards out to the reservoir. 

There were plenty of walks around the campsite.

We organized a group church meeting.


Brighton led us through the cave. We have some brave kids here!

There was some car trouble which meant we had an adventure with these kids piled in our truck. You can see poor Layla's bruised/scraped eye in this picture!

I love getting out in nature oh so much.