Camping Chaos

Having shared these photos on Facebook, I promptly forgot to here but since the whole reason I keep a blog is so I can swish it all magically into a blog book, which I count as a family journal, here I go with a flood of pictures after my incredible run-on sentence.

G had three of these the first night. She REALLY likes her hot dogs.

But everybody knows the real meal is s'mores!

Tree hugger. Her middle name might be Dakota but she appears to be Oregonian through and through.

So we didn't entirely know the plan here but our friends invited the kids on the raft and so we sent them on their way. And saw them nearly two hours later when they came back to us. But more than we'd expected but they had a blast and happily proved that girls are braver than boys by being two of only three kids brave enough to jump off some high rocks!

The views were incredible, which we appreciated even if Dude whined about how mom has to stop and take pictures alllllllll the time.

The top of a killer hike. But after the quick picture, mom's nerves couldn't handle them sitting on the edge of this major cliff and it was time to go back down!

Sunday afternoon hike. Of course you have to hold your breath when crossing bridges.

See? I'm not the only one that likes views!

There are too many kids in this tub, I mean tent.

Ice cream works as a perfect bribe for most anything. In this case, for getting them to help clean up camp. 

First hiking stop on our way home! The kids just love to climb.

I'm winning them over to my side! Look at that pretty view kids!

She's all smiles but that water is COLD!

So proud of herself for making it to the big rock halfway across the freezing cold creek at the bottom of the waterfall!

And then randomly this one turns to me and says, "I sleep here now." And pretends to do just that. She looks like a fairy or nymph. She might be one. 

And third hike of the trip home to the second highest falls in Oregon! Legs are BURNING!

I think everyone had fun! Even daddy. Now who's going to clean the car out?

We're all mad here

The addiction is real: 

G (said with a perfectly pathetic sad face): mom, I miss Katie so much!

Me: Katie? Who is Katie?

G: She is my age and she is my best friend. She had to go home. I miss her so much.

Dude vacuums like this. It helps block out the noise. Hey, whatever works if he's going to vacuum!

I'm currently having an argument with L. She is insisting that the cow says baa and the sheep says moo. She's not backing down.

She's insane:

 And messy:

 But very sweetly won't let her sister suffer alone in time-out:

L is into that kissing stage that alternates between cute/tender and awkward/creepy:

G: "Two purples! Light purple and diet purple. I like diet purple best." Can we assume that's the name of the color she's wearing? Personally I would've called it lavender.

I took this picture of G:

She asked to see it and then nodded in a very self-satisfied manner and smirked, "yeah, I AM a real artist." As we worked on this Kandinsky circles project she also randomly said, "I like this hynotizer." Where did she get that from?

Cause butterfly nets are a normal thing to wear on one's head whilst eating:

And what have the bigs been up to? I feel like lately it's pretty much been the G & L show. So here goes. Softball. They've been up to softball. It's taken over our lives. It's grrreeeeeeeeaaaaaat. Although unfortunately, the task of watching a game while getting one to two other kids to a practice or another game, sometimes not in the same city, while entertaining and feeding the athletes and the stars of the G & L show make it so we haven't really taken any pictures. Other things on our mind. But here's one!

M got on base twice this game by getting nailed by pitches from two separate pitchers! Also, that pitcher was a giant compared to tiny M. Kinda scary.