Our Big Summer Trip: Camping at Fort Stevens

This year we really looked forward to our very first camping trip. We were lucky enough to get a camping spot with several other families from our ward. We had so much fun being lazy, hanging out, a taking a trip to the beach, going out to eat, and playing games. The kids took their bikes and scooters and spent a lot of time polishing up their riding skills. Since Fort Stevens used to be just that, a FORT there are a couple of military battery arsenals to see. Jeremy took one afternoon with the older two (while Kenna and I napped!) and saw all the cool cannons and fort thingys (I can't really say what all they saw, cause I wasn't there!) We went to Seaside with our adopted grandma and sister and cousins to Pig n' Pancake. It was great to be together and hang out...even if the water was NASTY!! (The town of Seaside was having an algae problem, so the water was super treated and tasted really awful...so awful you could taste it through fountain soda!) Thanks to my friend Carrie, I have some good pictures to go along with my not so good ones. I think that rather than me babble about everything we did, I will narrate through pictures! Won't that be fun! Enjoy!!!

The Battery: I don't know what this column thingy is. Audri took a good picture though!The two older ones. They had fun with dad looking at old army things.Audri is fond of making this face. She does it a lot. I think I am glad I was not there cause she was pretty close to the edge of that hole and it looks kinda far down there. I would have had a bit of heartburn.Again, another place for heartburn. Looks like they are pretty high up...but then maybe looks are deceiving...Sheesh! I am surprised they came back alive! Look at this boy leaning over this giant hole! What if he fell in???

The Campsite:

Sad to say we still had our electronics around. The DS and Ipods were used sparingly however!

Dad trying to take over the DS

Makenna watching something on the ipod...

Audri in the zone too...

But see!! We did make them ride their bikes and stuff too!!! Brayden got to be quite the pro on his bike, he hadn't really had a lot of room to ride before.

Ahhh...campfires! Gotta love em'! We were priming the fire for some ultimate s'mores!

Our little fam in front of our tent. The tent was HUGE and we had plenty of room. Makenna loved it. She actually ASKED to go to bed around 8 pm. She would go in there and sing or talk to herself. It was kind of nice cause it's a lot of work to watch a 2 year old around a fire. It gave us a chance to have some fun around the fire with Brayden and Audri.

The Beach:

We drove onto the beach (my and the kids first time DRIVING onto the beach! It was like super 4-wheeling!) with our friends. We had fun setting up and relaxing. The weather was actually very nice for the beach and we even made it into our swimming suits (which doesn't happen too often at the Oregon Coast) This is the group we were with. The kids had fun with each other and the adults did too! We even got to see a sheriff pull a reckless driver over right in front of us. I could just see us in a future episode of Cops!Audri in the sand. Bird feathers. ICK!For some reason Makenna thought it would be fun to put her head in the sand. Maybe she was impersonating an ostrich.It was really foggy in between the water and the sandy part of the beach. This kids had fun though. They loved the water. Makenna loves the 'ocean' and even went potty in it (shhh...don't tell anyone!) Jeremy and Brayden spent some time looking for little fish and crabs in the surf.I am so glad that these two like each other. For the most part.My cute girl. She must makes me happy. And she loves the sand and the water.

I love this shot Carrie got. She looks like she's up to something!My other cute girl. She covered herself in sand...she had sand in places I didn't know existed. But she had lots of fun!I love this. He looks so serious. And he seems to be most of the time, but it's usually cause he's thinking hard about something. He is his father's son.

My happy guy. I swear I feed him. I really do. You're lucky you can't see his L-O-N-G legs in this picture...that makes him all the more skinny looking!!

So, I wish I would have taken more pictures. We had a ton of fun with eachother and with our friends. There are so many of us from church that go that we had our own little Sunday school and RS/Priesthood meeting. Sunday school was fun, and then the kids got to color and play quietly while we had the next lesson. Brayden was heard to say to Audri "That was the BEST PRIMARY ever cause all we did was color!" It is nice to have good friends to relax with. I am so glad we were able to go and spend time together as a family!