Jillian was such a good helper with Mariko while we were setting up the tents. She loves her little cousins!
Ben found the little hammer and set to work pounding in the tent stakes for all five tents. He did a great job!
After we got camp set up, we headed down to the beach. Playing on the cliffs was definitely the highlight of the afternoon. Rachael brought her professional camera and got some great shots of the kids. These are ones I took, not too shabby for a point and shoot digital camera!
Girl power!
Hudson wanted to get in on the action, too!
Jillian and Jonah
I love the expression on Ben's face, and the way he's holding his hand!
Are these two sisters, or what? I didn't tell them to tilt their heads or smile like that!
What a gorgeous family! I can't wait to see their little girl, due in February. Hopefully they'll be back next summer and it won't be three years before we see them again.
The gang! Minus Hyrum and Jeff, who were searching for treasures on the beach, and Nate, who decided to go back to camp and take a nap.
Matzo was one tired dog! He loves chasing the ball in the water until he's completely exhausted. I wasn't planning to bring him this time since Brad was going to be home in the evening, but while we were packing up he was so excited, and when we told him he wasn't coming he started pouting and went to hide in his dirt hole. It was so pitiful, I couldn't bear to leave him behind!
Jill and Hudson. Like I said, Jill is great with her little cousins.
I love how the sun sparkles on the water.
After playing on the beach, we headed up to the little store and got ice cream cones as a before dinner appetizer. Then we went back to camp and made a fire to cook our foil dinners. I brought my dutch oven to try out a blackberry cobbler. I was so excited about actually using the dutch oven. My goal for camping next year is to use it more often. Anyway, we ended up putting way too many coals on it and the cobbler burnt to a disgusting crisp. Everyone was very disappointed.
Relaxing around the campfire playing games was the highlight of the evening. First we played Mad Gab, then we moved to the screen tent and played Monopoly Deal until everyone was tired. The wind had started blowing quite hard early in the evening and we watched clouds roll in over Port Townsend, but by dark the clouds had passed and we could actually see stars. We thought we were safe from the rain. Not quite!
At about 4:30 in the morning, I woke up to pitter patter on the tent. I laid listening to it for a while, trying to go back to sleep, and finally got up to go to the bathroom. Then it started raining harder, and harder. I finally fell back to sleep and when I woke up again around 7:30, I did not want to get out of the tent! It was still raining. I love camping, but not in the rain!
When everyone emerged from their tents at about 8:00, we decided to go ahead and cook breakfast since we had everything to make blackberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I wish I would have taken a picture of Tyler, Tifanie, Corey, and I huddled under the screen tent (which wasn't really waterproof) around three cook stoves cooking breakfast. While we cooked, Ben, Hyrum, and Jonah ran around in the rain playing some kind of noisy game, oblivious to how soaked and muddy they were getting.
As soon as we ate and cleaned up, we packed up camp and headed home. Fortunately, my dad has a big pickup truck so we threw all the wet tents and chairs into the back to deal with when the sun came out again. I felt very grateful to not have the wet, muddy things in the back of my van. Driving home with a wet dog was enough!
I'm so glad we decided to go camping, even though the weather wasn't ideal Tuesday morning. These experiences are what make great memories! I've really enjoyed spending time with my siblings this past week and it makes me want to plan a true reunion for ALL of us next summer.
What a fun trip!
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