my three sons: Cousin's Second Annual Camping Trip

We just got back yesterday from yet another memorable camping trip. We had such a great time with my cousins and their families! This year we camped at Devil's Lake in Lincoln City, Oregon. One of the reasons why it was neat for our family was because Kent's Dad actually lives there! We were able to stop and visit with him and his girlfriend and see all the fun things he's done to his place. We had a great time chatting and borrowing flashlights! We were so happy he had a couple to lend us since we forgot to bring them for the big boys.

Our campsites were nice enough but a little on the small side. We thought we were going to be right on the lake, but we were actually not at all. There was a forest separating the lake from our campsite and no way to walk through it. We were calling it "the swampy swamp." On top of that one of the sites was too tiny for a tent! So we had to "return" it and double up with Greg & Melanie. This worked out fine, but their refund policy is less than desirable. The other thing we didn't like was the fact that there was no playground for the kids and the only thing to do with the kids was walk to boat dock. Not fun with a bunch of little kids! Oh and the raccoons!!! We had one bold enough to steal a bag of marshmallows right under our noses and they hissed at Aaron when he got up in the night! We could also hear them fighting through the night... crazy!

We did find out that there was a fun play ground just a 1/2 mile away called Regatta Park. It was actually the most fun play structure we had ever been to. It was HUGE and all wooden and the kids had a blast running through it. It was also beautiful being right on the lake.

We also had a couple of good times at the beach playing in the sand and just enjoying each other. We had beautiful sun shiny days (just a bit cold) and Finley and I did manage to get just a tad sun burnt.

This year, my brother and his wife happened to be camping at the coast at the same time we were and he brought his family to visit with us for a couple of hours on Saturday evening. We had a really nice time visiting and it was neat to have ALL of us together even if it was just for a couple of hours.

We did all the usual camping stuff: roasting marshmallows, eating camp food, watching Greg roast red licorice over the fire (wait, maybe that's not usual), riding razor scooters, watching the big boys try to build a fire, etc. All good times! Our boys actually slept GREAT this time. Mommy unfortunately awakes at the sound of each and every little thing so I did not sleep so great. Boy did my bed feel great when we got home!

I took the following photos with my little camera... I was too nervous to take big camera with me.

Finley with his soy milk, "lovie," and ball. What more could a baby boy want?

Stewart and Spencer roasting their hot dogs

Camping cousins

Hudson being a little old man. We were laughing at him walking around sipping his "coffee" (milk) and holding onto his retro tupperware mug from my childhood. Priceless!

Enjoying cuddles from Spencer, Evie, Ricky and Finley

Finley taking it all in. He loved the beach and just crawled and crawled and crawled. So much open space!!!

Jeffrey loving the sand

Gracelyn was so cute. She kept trying to climb up on Finley and Finley was not pleased! He would stick his little lip out like he was being attacked. Uhm Finley... she's like HALF your age! Toughen up! Actually, Miss Gracie is 10 months and Finley is 17 months. Don't you just love her hat?