The Great Outdoors

We've taken a few fun camping trips this summer. Aaron did the unthinkable and went to Yosemite in the summer without a reservation! The kids have never been in the summer, so he loaded them up at four in the morning and took off, Eli and I stayed home. A true blue miracle happened after three hours of trying to find a place to spend the night, a single spot in the Housekeeping camp opened up as he walked in. He took it and not 30 seconds later another family walked up looking for somewhere to stay. Right place, right time. They had a great time floating in the river that is always too cold in the spring and fall when we usually go. It was just one night, but they packed a lot in!

We also took our annual trip to Shasta. We had a great time, but it was stinkin' HOT! 106-108 degrees every day. Luckily we had the lake to keep us cool and we spent pretty much all day in it. We stayed in a tent cabin that had electricity, but no a/c, so the lake and the pool were our only refuge from the heat. We spent one day away from the lake, our first thought was exploring Shasta Caverns, but being budget minded we headed to a waterfall trail in Dunsmuir, home to the BEST WATER ON EARTH! We filled up all the empty water bottles we had from the fountains they have all over the town. We also ate at the same pizza place we went to on our family reunion two summer ago, sweet memories. Our Shasta trips are usually the highlight of summer because they always mean the ultimate definition of summer. Swimming, boating, sunny weather, running around in a bathing suit all day, eating ice cream, campfires and making s'mores, and getting tan! Best seats in the house.

Home away from home.

River near Shasta

Tube time!

Day out in Dunsmuir.

Olympics inspired diving competition!