{ Priest Lake 2011 }

I am a camping enthusiast. I grew up camping, and for the most part, it defined vacations for my family. Summer just really isn't complete for me unless I get out in the woods and rough it at least once. It's been several years since I've had the opportunity to go, so this year I was very excited because we planned a joint camp out with my parents.

Every camping enthusiast, however, has at least one "unforgettable" story. Well, this camp out turned out to be ours. It wasn't the company or the food... both of those were exceptional! It was the weather... and the fact that Oliver had a high fever until the day we came home. It is a mystery to us that he got two teeth and then had the symptoms. The night before we left, he woke up with a fever. My parents had spent the night so we could get an early start. None of us got too much sleep that night. About 4 am I was ordered to bed by my husband and he and Grandma took over on Oliver duty. We woke up to a light drizzle, but didn't let it deter us. We packed everything up and headed out, five minutes ahead of our goal, which we found pretty impressive!

Over the next couple of days, the weather cleared up at intervals and we all made the best of it that we could.

Highlights included:

Lots of sweet snuggling with Oliver for everyone
Oliver slept beautifully in that fresh air
The opportunity for both couples to go on a little outing together, while we took turns watching Oliver at camp
Yummy food
Quality family time

My dad and Tim took the canoe my dad built out for the first time. He finished it several years ago and had it in the water a dozen times before it crashed. He almost gave up on repairing it, but we spurred him on and now it is back! I took a turn with Tim as well and had a good time.

{ Such a little trooper, in spite of not feeling well }

{ These pictures came out fuzzy, but they're still so sweet. Matching hats on Grandpa and Oliver! }

{ The second night, as I was cooking dinner, the rain started POURING! I was cooking at the picnic table with no cover, so the guys carried the stove (still on) up to the van, under the tailgate, where I proceeded to finish. Grandma and Oliver were hunkered down in the tent, where, as you can see, everything had been hurriedly thrown to avoid being drenched. My mom and I ate dinner in there while the guys ate in the van. Once the rain finally let up some, my dad came for a visit to the tent. He and Oliver had a grand old time playing peek a boo! }

Enjoying the blaze after the rainstorm. Because there were so many trees around us, even though it wasn't raining, it still felt like it because the trees would drip for over an hour. Sigh.....

{ Drying his shoes over the fire }

{ Little explorer }

{ This pretty much sums things up: everyone taking a turn drying something out, including Grandma drying Oliver! }

I will definitely go camping again. The difficulties of this experience will fade in my memory eventually, I'm sure. A camper would sure be nice, though.............