CAMPING! Camping! And... camping.

We've gone on three camping trips this summer. I'm seriously tired of doing all the laundry that follows, but we've had some really great trips.

The first was with Brandon's cousin and family to Diamond Lake in southern Oregon. Right after the van died. The logistics of this camping trip were interesting. We ended up borrowing my dad's truck to go down. We squeezed the boys into the back of a Ford F-150 extended cab and drove for eight hours. It actually wasn't too bad. We'll call it bonding.

The lake was amazing. And the weather was fabulous. I even got a sunburn one day! This is my idea of camping. It got pretty chilly at night but as soon as the sun came up it was nice and toasty.

The main goal for Brandon this trip was fishing. And he did plenty of it! He'd go out every morning around 5:30 and bring in his limit around noon. Then we'd spend the afternoon together.

The boys got to go out, too. This is a pic of Sterling, Hyrum, Dylan (back of the boat) and Ty (in the front). We met these cousins last summer and Sterling and Dylan hit it off. They were the best buds and this summer they picked it right back up again.

Hyrum caught his first fish!! He was not interested in holding it, thank you very much.

Sterling went out with the guys one evening. He lasted about ten minutes and then was bored out of his gourd. But, once you're out there, you're out there so he had to tough it out. That was his last fishing trip in the boat.

He did, however, enjoy riding one of the bikes. We tried to bring ours but those were not high on the priority list and when the back of the truck was full, bikes were left out.

Jonah pretty much kicked it in here for much of the time. Well, he crawled around and got filthy dirty, too. Isn't this a great shot? Kate, who we were camping with, has a fancy camera and knows all the lighting tips. She should go pro.

She got this great shot of Hyrum, too.

And this is what you get after five days of camping and fun. Three boys sleeping in the back seat.

But, wait, there's more! Next we went on a trip to the ocean in Oregon for a family reunion. Tell me if this was a crazy decision. It was 90 degrees and sunny at home. It was misty and 55 degrees at the ocean. Total cloud cover. I wore two sweatshirts and a jacket to stay warm. I was happy to be sleeping in the back of the suburban for this trip. The boys got to sleep in Brandon's parents trailer with their cousins. They loved that.

It was a short trip, so not many pictures, but...

Sterling got buried.

And soaked. BRRR!

Hyrum got a great view of the ocean.

And cousin Molly got a piggyback ride! As for me, I huddled by whichever campfire I could find.

The last trip was another shorty. A quick weekend at the coast here in Washington, where, again, it was plenty toasty at home but cold and rainy 60 miles away on the ocean. Go figure.

But we did enjoy jumping waves. Sterling also became a pro at riding his bike sans training wheels here! He's awesome.

Hyrum showed his boy side. Slugs. He loved them. Picked them up. Found them new homes by our tent. One even came home in our tent, unbeknownst to me until I put it up to dry out. Nice.

Don't let the crazy man in the shorts fool you. The water is freezing!

See? I had on two sweatshirts.

Our kids could play in the sand all day. Good thing we needed to eat or we would have never convinced them to leave!!

Even Jonah loved it. It was hilarious watching him crawl around in the sand. He did this crazy crawl that I might have to get my hands on the video of.

Phew!! That was a lot of pictures! I enjoy camping but I am very happy to have no more camping trips on this year's calendar. Maybe if we were going somewhere warm and dry I might change my mind.... Oh, wait, I just remembered it took me two days to finish the laundry from this last trip. Next summer sounds great.