NWSS

Toward the end of July, we made our annual trip to NW St.ring S.ummit. It was a busy July for us! When we got home from Summit on July 27th, I realized that between July 1st and the 27th, we had been home for a grand total of seven days. All the other days we'd either been somewhere else, or in transit to or from our travels. What a month!

We got there on Wednesday because Gerry was a volunteer.  It meant that we got to get a good camp site and hold down space for our friends, but the real fun began once all our friends showed up.  We've camped with the same families for a couple of years now and the kids enjoy playing together.  It's fun to catch up and watch their kids grow as the summers pass.  We brought our hammock as did another family and the kids had lots of fun playing in them.

Reed and Spring playing with their friend R.  This marked the first year that we would let the kids play out of sight on occasion.  They weren't far, and we could still hear them, but it was a mark of the fact that our kids are growing fast!  And I have to brag because I made the little red dress S is wearing here.  I actually finished some of the hand stitching on it on the car ride down!

This was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip!  The kids are having a jam session together! :)

Reed and Gerry down at the music.  I think this is from Thursday night.  This evening, Reed really wanted to go home early.  We hadn't quite gotten into the groove of going down for the music yet, so we had forgotten to bring toys, snacks and jammies for him.  I was torn.  Part of me feared that if we went back early that night, that he'd want to go back early every night and I knew that neither G nor I was going to be excited to miss the music for the next few nights.  But I also worried that if I made him stay, it would take all the fun out of it and he wouldn't want to come to the music any more.  But when I stopped and considered how unprepared we were, I decided to go back to camp.  It turned out fine and we stayed for all the music after that!

One of the cooler things we got to do while we were there was go do some tie-dye with the kids.  Part of what I loved is that every parent in our camp had bought a pack of plain white t-shirts for their kids to dye, and every family brought all the t-shirts just in case another family forgot to bring some.  I love how we take care of each other!

The actually tie-dying was a little chaotic. We went down early, wanting to make sure that we got there before the die ran out.  Well, they weren't quite prepared for the huge rush of families they got.  There weren't enough rubber bands, and the dye wasn't ready yet.  They were making a turmeric dye which had to boil before it was ready.  It all worked out though.  The kids were super excited to do their tie-dye, partly thanks to a tie-dye video game we have on our ip.ad, but they stayed reasonably patient.  Also, thanks to that same video game, I was able to offer some advice to other families for how to fold their shirts.  Here we are, finally waiting in line to dye our shirts.

Here's Reed wearing his finished t-shirt (and looking like the spokeskid for An.nie's Bu.nnies).  The flash makes it a bit tough to see the variation in coloration though.  Also, check out how much his tooth has come down in just a week!

Spring silliness at camp.

S took more naps in my lap during the month of July than she's done in a LONG time!

And the point of doing the tie-dyes on Saturday morning (aside from it just being a cool thing to do) was so that the kids could wear what they'd made in the kids' parade that afternoon.  Reed wore his, but you can't really see it under his costume.  Spring on the other hand was tired and didn't want to wear hers.  Actually she didn't want to wear the dragon cape either and soon wound up shedding it.

A happier Spring at the end of the parade, sans dragon cape.

On our way home, I caught a salamander for the kids.  I was actually getting worried that I wasn't going to be able to catch one for them.  It was Saturday and we'd been there since Wednesday, and I'd blown the only chance I'd gotten thus far by not being quick enough.  But this time, I caught one. :)  I'm not sure who was more excited, me or the kids!

G and R enjoying the Saturday night set.

Reed had been eagerly anticipating a paddle boat ride since the day we arrived. Sunday morning, it was finally time!  Spring had no interest in going, so it was just the boys.

A fun shot of them going under the bridge.

Later in the day, Gerry went out again, this time with Reed and two other kids from our group, both about R's age.  I think all the parents were wondering how well it would go, but the kids all did great and it wound up being one of Gerry's favorite parts of the trip!!

Hanging out in camp on Sunday afternoon.

Can you guess who took this picture?  Just check out who's missing. :)

Another portrait by Reed.

G and I took our kiddos and our friends' son R out for a walk on Sunday afternoon.  There were lots of fake mustaches and masks that you could use to have your picture taken here.  Pretty fun!

And we stopped and saw a peachick that was being taken care of by the owners of the property (the chick had been abandoned by its mother).  Of course Spring loved seeing a baby!

One of R's big accomplishments for the trip was learning how to slide down the pole on the playground by himself!  G is there to spot him, but didn't touch him on the way down.  At the top...

And landing.

Us with the two other families that we camped with.  What a great group of people!!