Mamma Vintage: Camping 2014

Well, some of my summer cravings are beginning to be satisfied. We made it through our ten day camping trip, and what's more, we enjoyed it! A lot! Furthermore, I have completed the laundry. I am not exaggerating when I say that we had a mountain of laundry when we got home that you could literally climb up. Our washing machine was constantly running for four days straight as long as someone was awake to start the next load.

Back to our trip - we began at Ike Kinswa State Park on Lake Mayfield down by Mossyrock. If you are considering camping in Western Washington, I would highly recommend this campground. The camp sites are spacious, it is beautifully wooded and the lake is warm. We have camped there several times now and have always had a great experience. The weather during this week was absolutely gorgeous and in the 80's almost the whole time. I definitely packed way too many coats and sweatshirts!

We arrived at Lake Mayfield on Thursday. A lot of my family was with us for the first few days of our trip - my parents, by brother Damian and his family, my aunt Joanna, my Uncle Joe and Aunt Judy and my cousin Alicia and her husband, Seth. Most of them arrived on Friday or Saturday and left on Sunday or Monday. The exception would be my dad who was able to stay with us for the entire trip, which was such a treat.

We spent time at the beach, on my parents' boat, talking around the campfire and eating yummy food. Both Joshua and Noah tried kneeboarding and got up, which was so fun to watch. I intertubed, water skied and enjoyed swimming in the lake.

My cousin Alicia enjoying a s'more.

My aunt Joanna and I on the intertube behind the boat on beautiful Lake Mayfield.

Soaking up the sun at the beach with my girls.

Teresa LOVED the lake. Jason took her swimming in it and she was so happy, as long as the water didn't get much deeper than her waist.

Joshua behind the boat kneeboarding. He had been working up tho that for the past couple of years, so I'm so proud that he conquered it this summer.

I was so pleased to find out after we arrived that camping in the next site was an old school friend of mine, Sharon Gadbois, camping with her family. Sharon has been such an encouraging supporter of my blog and we went to school together kindergarten through eighth grade. It was so nice to catch up again and to meet her son, Noah. We have been in touch since we got home and they get to come over for dinner at the end of the month. I love getting back in touch with old friends!

Teresa did so well while we were camping. Everyone always says, "She's such a happy baby." And she is! She slept well for the most part and spent hours hanging out in her pac n play around the campfire with us. The most difficult part was that she is a crawler and puts everything in her mouth, so letting her explore on the ground wasn't really an option. But since she was so content in her pac n play most of the time, it wasn't really a problem. This is our second camping trip under our belts with a baby in tow, and the babies did well on both trips. What a blessing!

Our dear friends, Mike and Jenny, arrived at Lake Mayfield with their family on Sunday and stayed with us until we left on Thursday. All of our children have become good friends, making it a lot of fun to be able to camp together.

I was happily surprised that Jenny went intertubing with me, because in the past she has not been a fan of it. Her boys tried kneeboarding too and were able to get up. Jenny really surprised me then, and inspired by her sons, tried kneeboarding too! After watching her, I felt inspired. I water skied, something that I've done since I was 12, but I kept trying to be more daring on the wake. I wiped out several times, which I haven't done in years. Watching the boys and Jenny try so hard at something new was so fun to watch and makes me want to expand my horizons as well. Maybe next summer I will try to learn how to steer the wakeboard so that I don't involuntarily drift off to the side and crash :)

The boys loving on our dog, Kahlua

The girls, Veronica and Kayli, loving on each other.

My dear Jenny and I.

Those logs provided hours of entertainment. Remind me - why do we buy toys???

The boys right before we said goodbye on Thursday.

All of the clan kiddos! I love this picture!

After a week at Lake Mayfield, we headed over to Dash Point State Park for the end of our trip, and I will share about that soon. Lake Mayfield was wonderful and we will definitely be back!