Towards the end of September we took our last family camping trip of the year.  We headed back to the Winthrop area for some good ol’ free camping.  September turns out to be a great month to go.  All those poor public school kids back in school.  We almost had the whole place to ourselves.  Plenty of room for Zoe to ride her bike, dig holes and practice her fire pit building skills.  The best part…I actually remembered to take pictures this time!  It only took me all summer but I finally got it.

Don’t worry.  We didn’t actually use this fire pit (much to Zoe’s disappointment)  There was a nice pit already set up for us.  Evening s’mores are sometimes a little harder for us to get going for some reason so this time we decided s’mores after lunch would be perfect.

Did you notice the big spread next to Greg? Let me give you a close up.

Oh Yeah! We went all out this trip.  There was a great waterfall just down from our site that we visited almost every day.  We finally got a family photo on one of our trips.  We tried to get the camera set up to get more of the waterfall but it was not working.  So Greg just held the camera out.  I have never been able to do this and actually get everyone in the picture.  Greg has a great talent for this type of photography.  (Is there a name for it?  There should be.)

We really enjoy camping in this area.  It’s not too far from home, the weather is great and the area is beautiful.  This time we went the river was a bit calmer so the kids were actually able to play in it (freezing as it was) and search for frogs and fish.

And this is the beautiful evidence of our fun and successful camping trip.  I am so thankful the Lord has blessed us with the resources, time, and ability to get so many camping trips in this year.  It was all we were hoping it would be for our family.  Goodbye camping season…We’ll see you next year!

~ Merriann

Our camping adventures in May took us just outside Winthrop to Chewuch.  Our campsite was perfect.  We stayed in National Forest grounds which is way cheaper than the state parks.  A lot of the sites were free but we were camping with some tenters that needed bathrooms so this place was $12 a night.  About 1/3 the cost of the state park.  Even though the weather was on the hotter side in the afternoon we had a wonderful tree covering to keep us cool.

We camped with three other couples.  One of which has a daughter around Zoe’s age.  It was wonderful for the girls to have each other to play with.  Although we have known this family for many years and our daughters have known each other all their lives, this was the longest they had been together all day every day.  Their personalities matched beautifully.  It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend.  One day the guys went shooting.  Another, the two dads took the girls out for a father daughter afternoon and the moms and babies slept (wonderful).  This was our little camp site.  Two trailers, two tents, eight adults and 4 children.

Our last day there we headed to Lake Pearrygin.  I still thought the water was cold but that was not going to stop Zoe from taking full advantage.

As usual Ezekiel was a bit suspicious of the whole thing to begin with. 

But he soon warmed up to he idea.

~ Merriann