Fall is in the air, but you KNOW I’ve got a boatload of backlogged summer pics. Stick with me.
We spent a weekend in mid-July camping at Kachess Lake, happy to have the family all together for this trip with a bonus four, as the Rusts had agreed to join us. We landed at camp late afternoon and checked off our setup tasks one by one. Lounge chairs,
Tent,
Beverages.
I took the kids down to the lake to scope out the shoreline while Shane stayed back to string the hammock and dig into his weekend reading.
The water was little mucky, but not too cold. And the backdrop couldn’t be beat.
Really should have changed into those swim trunks…
We dined on beef tacos, our tried and true camp stove favorite, while the rest of our gang got settled.
The Rust pups were a welcome addition to camp life.
One of my favorite things about camping is the ability to walk in the woods at any given moment. Did we just walk to the lake before dinner? Yes, we did. Did the kids want to go back right after dinner? Yes, they did.
And did we opt for another walk to the lake before bedtime, the whole bunch of us? Yes, we did.
Saturday morning! Ube pancakes! Sausage! Pups!
Post-breakfast lake stroll: the colors out here at this time of day were on point.
The kids and I played a game of hide and seek and Isaac was convinced that he was fully invisible if he laid down in the foot-high grass. I SEE YOU, BUDDY.
This boy left so many footprints in these long dusty roads over the course of the weekend.
Juliette set off on a separate path and challenged her brother to a race back to camp. With that, he was OFF.
I huffed behind him, barely able to keep up.
We made it back to the site (before Juliette, no less), loaded up our car with chairs and water toys and a cooler full of lunch fixings, then drove down to the lakefront to set up shop for the afternoon.
Tuckered. He slept over an hour on this rocky beach, a thin picnic blanket for a bed and a life jacket for a pillow. When at camp…
While Isaac dozed, sister and I paddled.
This girl will forever be my favorite first mate.
We drifted back to shore to find Isaac up and ready to romp.
Pink cheeks, big grins, sunny vibes.
We spent the rest of the afternoon bopping around the campsite, snacking and gaming and reading. The Rust boys continue to play the role of surrogate big brothers to my kids – they are as kind-hearted and patient as teens come.
We all took a walk after dinner and I led the crew on a very circuitous route to the same stretch of lakefront we’d been hanging at all weekend.
Long live family camp…
We decided on Sunday morning to pack it up early and grab a hot breakfast at a nearby diner. Isaac said good morning to the dogs and then I took him for a walk while Shane and Juliette got on with the business of breaking down the tent.
Just a boy, sitting on a log with his warm milk and his mama, reveling in how good summer can be. It’s one of my greatest hopes that my kids do not take this place we live in or these people we live life with for granted.
One last look, Bud. Let’s pack it up.
And with that…back to civilization a la The Pancake House. I do love camp life, but clean tables and flush toilets are nice, too.
