A bike ride

Nate's training for the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August, so I decided to take the bike trailer out the other night while he ran.  (He often runs before he comes home from work.  We live in such a hilly area - with no shoulders on the road - that running from here isn't easy.  And biking with the trailer is impossible.)  We went out to Minto Brown Park, which we do once a summer.  Click here and here to see the past two years.  It's not like it's that hard to do or anything, but we rarely get out there.  I always think we'll do it more, but it just doesn't happen.

We didn't have a helmet for Cooper yet and they were out of the baby girl helmets.  (The baby boy one was just too ugly.)  So her helmet is a little big.  I figured she won't probably wear it many more times this summer and then it will still work for next year (and beyond).  My babies have big heads, so the helmet is too big, but not nearly as big as it would be on most ten month olds.  :)

It was her bedtime by the time we really got going, and she cried every time I stopped.  But overall she held up really well, especially considering the helmet was usually covering her eyes.  The experience could've been a lot worse.

As I was riding along, I heard a sweet little voice say, "Do you want to hold hands?"  Totally melted my heart, because it was a little out of character for our guy.  He's much more likely to use a drumstick on Cooper's head or douse her with the hose when I run inside to get him a granola bar.  Oh, yes.  Both of those things happened last week.  He obviously loves her, but he's a two year old boy and doesn't often show it.  :)  Anyway, as soon as I stopped to take a picture, he let go.  The last picture is a reenactment.  :)

And the rest of the camping pictures.

Okay, this was the most drawn-out series of blog posts ever.  Sorry.  Without further ado, here's the final day of our camping trip.

We decided that next year we'll camp for three nights.  It's just too much work to only have one full day.  Since Nate needed to be at work the next day, we decided to pay the day use fee, so we could pack up whenever we wanted.  It worked out really well, and is definitely something we'll do again.

After breakfast, we went on a hike along the McKenzie River.  Judson was tired and not cooperative for the first part of the walk, but eventually cheered up and then he and Madi were unstoppable.

During the big kids' naps (the little ones napped poorly the entire weekend), we packed up as much as we could while the guys hiked down to the reservoir.  Once they came back, JuliAnn and I left the babies with them and went to the reservoir.

Once Madi and Judson were awake, Jules and I entertained them with the bike trailer while the guys took down the tents and loaded the cars.  We were almost the only ones in the campground by then, and we enjoyed having the road to ourselves.

We headed for home at about seven o'clock and enjoyed pizza at Giovanni's in Mill City (kind of famous around here).  We had such a fun weekend, but it sure did feel good to get clean and sleep in our own beds!

They may or may not have been eating red licorice before noon.  :)

A frequent sight:  these two firstborns definitely know how to go at it! 

So pretty!

Camping, day two

I got a little side-tracked last week.  I was busy finishing a digital photo book while a terrific sale was going on.  ("My Publisher" sometimes has a flat rate with up to one hundred pages - quite a deal!)  Anyway, I'm ready to catch up on my blogging.

Day Two of camping was BUSY.  We had a lot to fit into our only full day! There was more bike riding, playing in the dirt, the guys went on a long mountain bike ride on the McKenzie River Trail (rated the best mountain biking trail in the country last year!), and we went fishing after dinner.  It was a busy day with very short naps, but everyone held up pretty well.

For the first time ever, Nate didn't catch any fish out of Clear Lake.  Neither did anyone else.  It probably had to do with two little people tromping around in the boat constantly.  Judson never stopped talking the entire time, which didn't help either.  :)

Just out of bed...

Cooking breakfast

Sweet Madi moved her chair over to sit by Cooper.  Either Cooper or Emmitt was in the trike most of the time.  It was the only clean place we had to set them down.  And to feed them.  The Olsons' high chair wouldn't clip onto the super-thick picnic table and I forgot our booster seat.  It was challenging, to say the least!

Not a great picture, but I had to include it.  Madi carried her purse EVERYWHERE, much to her parents' dismay.  She had often had her baby too.

Our beautiful campsite, complete with two ginormous tents

I didn't let him get further away than that, but it was such a quiet campground, it wasn't too big of a deal.

Such cuties!

 Okay, I really love this next series of pictures, because Madi was much dirtier than Judson.  For the record, she did it to herself.  :)

Her hair near her ponytail holder had so much dirt in it, and notice the little pile on her ear.  :)

Daddies and babies

Camping, day one

We headed out for our annual camping trip with the Olsons on Friday morning.  Well, by the time we left Stayton (with Frappucinos in hand!), it was more like 12:30.  We'd been praying fervently that we'd find a campsite, since we didn't have reservations anywhere.  It's how we roll, but it always makes me nervous.  One of these times, we're going to find ourselves up a creek, so to speak. 

Thankfully this was not that time.  We found a perfect spot at Ice Cap Campground, near Clear Lake.  (It was where we were hoping to camp.)  We camped there with the Olsons the first time we ever camped together (about three days before Jules found out she was pregnant with Madi).

The kids were SO excited to be camping.  And, of course, they were instantly filthy.  Much to my delight, Madi was every bit as dirty as Judson this year.  And even dirtier at times (those pictures will be in the next post).  Poor Madi had a cold and was a bit subdued at first.  In contrast to last year, where she did all the talking, Judson was definitely the bossy one this year.  They really are great friends, though, and we love that the Olsons are exactly at the same stage of life as we are.  It makes being together so much fun (and so much work).  :)

Friday consisted of setting up camp, lots of bike rides, and eating lots of yummy food.  Including toasted coconut marshmallows (made by Jet Puffed).  They're basically rolled in toasted coconut and they're AMAZING.  I'd wanted to try them for some time and was so glad I finally bought some.  They made spectacular S'mores (according to everyone but Matt, who wouldn't try one :).

Judson LOVED Madi's "Pinkalicious" bike.  She did a great job sharing with him.  He also rode his balance bike when it was her turn to ride her bike.  They were pretty excited about the head lamps, too.

They still fit!  (But only with a couple of pounds to spare, according to the weight limit.) Click here for last year's picture.

While the guys rode their bikes and pulled the big kids in the trailer, Jules and I carried the babies.  They spent A LOT of time in the Becos during the course of the weekend.  Jules and I had been dressed like twins (flashback to our teaching days when we once dressed nearly identically for the first day of school) until she took off her purple tank top.  :)

I really should get a commission from Beco.  I LOVE that carrier so much!

An attempt to keep the babies clean.  Emmitt was at the edge in literally about three seconds.  He decided he didn't like crawling in the dirt, though, so he kept crawling around the edges of the tarp.  It was quite funny.

First S'more of the year.  He stayed amazingly clean, which was great.  Especially since there was NO RUNNING WATER this year.  Seriously. 

Madelyn and Matt

Dirty girl

Ugh.  After Friday, I rarely put her down.  :)

And, finally, it was time for the kids to go down for the night and for the adult to get to RELAX.  Ah.  I sure do love sitting around the campfire, especially with such good friends!