When we returned home after our long trip, we were so happy to be reunited with Daddy. Even though we truly enjoyed our summer vacation, it wasn't worth it to be away from Daddy for so long and I don't think we'll take such a long separate trip again. We all missed each other too much, which I think is a good thing.
We had a nice chunk of time together when Daddy returned home from work a few days after our arrival. Daddy and the boys went right to work on a bike ramp they'd been planning and got it done in no time.
After the trial runs, it got a few inches shaved off the bottom because it was a little too big and too steep, but it's been great fun ever since. It took a bit of practice to get the hang of it, but the boys both figured out how to get air.
(beware the punishment at our house if you lose your bike helmet...you have to wear the spare!)
Ascha put it to a different use. A Montana cousin loved to jump, which made Ascha want to become a better jumper, too. This seemed the perfect platform for improving her new skill.
We decided in late August that it was "now or never" for summer camping. We threw our stuff together and headed toward Mt. Adams. We'd camped there last year amongst the mosquitoes, but hoped we'd have a better time of it this year. No such luck. It is an incredibly beautiful place, but not one we'll be visiting again for a while. The mosquitoes are unbelievable. This hike was gorgeous, but when we stopped for lunch, we felt like we were being eaten alive.
We paused for one picture, then the boys and I ran away flapping our arms and smacking at our heads. It wasn't worth it to try to get another one, but the memory makes me smile.
We camped at tiny Horseshoe Lake, the campground where we'd stayed for free last summer. This year, it was still buggy, still dusty, still a rough ride on bad roads to get there, but now it's more expensive than many of the more accessible campgrounds we'd passed on our way to "remoteness." Oh, well. Now we know.
I had hoped to get at least one decent family picture while we were on this camping trip. I even had the rare opportunity to make multiple attempts, but didn't come away with any real keepers.
Jeremy and I were feeling rather down about the camping trip thus far, but we decided to explore some new roads and head across huckleberry country. We never did stop and pick any, but the huckleberry milkshake at a gas station along the way counts, right? We drove the most adventurous "road" the boys have ever been on (when the sign says "Not Maintained," they mean it! Or maybe, they mean there are logs across the road, kelly humps here and there, and 5-foot-high vegetation on said "road"). It was a lot of fun, once we knew it was over and we had made it through. We found a new campground on a little fishing lake that was NOT crawling with mosquitoes.
There were massive logs for the boys to explore on. Their favorite pastime was finding fishing lures stuck in or around the logs. Unfortunately, right after this picture was taken, Taylor found a wasp, so we didn't try for another family picture. We used the old toothpaste remedy, though, and Taylor's a believer. He was so excited that it actually helped his sting.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Washington side of Bonneville Dam. It's funny how similar the two sides are in some ways, but in terms of presentation, they seem about 30 years apart. The Washington side gets less visitors, so the 70s carpet hasn't worn out yet. I couldn't find any pictures online and I didn't grab my camera, so you'll have to visit both sides for yourself someday for a fun exercise in comparing and contrasting.
All in all, the end of August was a great time of reconnecting as a family and collecting ourselves before another busy school year was upon us.
