Camping With Dave and Tara

During the last weekend of August, we went camping with Dave and Tara and their daughter, Sadie. It was a lot of fun just being able to hang out and not have anything that we HAD to do. We went to Lightning Lake in Manning Park and I think it was a bit of a nostalgic trip for Dave and Steven because it was where they used to camp as a family while they were growing up. It was fun to hear them talk about what it was like when they were there as little boys and now they got to take their own children.

A look at half of our campsite. The tent on the left was where we stayed. It is a tent that was originally bought by Dave and a friend so the guys could have a nice big tent to stay in when they went hunting. Now, tent is part Dave's and part Steven's so hopefully we will get another chance to use it in the future. It has a stove that goes with it (we didn't use it on this trip) and also has another 10 foot vestibule that goes on the front. The smaller tent is actually ours but Dave and Tara stayed in it. Our family is a bit too large for that tent and we needed something different so we ended up trading.

The other half of our campsite. It worked out perfectly that we cooked on one table and then ate at the other so we had lot of room at the "eating" table for everyone.

The inside of our tent. Our bed is on the right. Yes, it is an air mattress off the ground. I know, I know....but it is really comfy. Arinn slept in the pack and play and then Carathy and Caleb each had their own cot. All of that only took up half the tent. It was HUGE!

One afternoon a deer wandered through our campsite.

A view of the lake

Carathy and Caleb looking at the water.....wanting to go in.....but just felt how cold it was. They ended up going in, though. And even found it to be quite refreshing!


Carathy, Sadie and Caleb getting ready for a boat ride.

The guys took the oldest three kids in the boat for a while one afternoon. It was a nice break for Tara and I - especially because Arinn was napping!

Arinn was napping in the backpack. Looks uncomfortable but she slept in there for almost 2 hours!

One of Arinn's favorite things to do was put rocks in the scoop and then dump them. For hours on end this is what she did.

One afternoon, Dave and Steven took Carathy and Caleb to the Pond Prowl program to explore the pond and look for little critters. The kids loved it and were sad that they would be missing the one the next day.

Lightning lake - you can see the rain coming. We got to the beach about 30 seconds before I took this picture. Needless to say that by the time we walked back to our campsite, we were a bit wet.

After we packed up our site, we headed over to the day use area because we just were not ready to come home yet. We had a picnic lunch there, swam for a bit, and then headed up to the Lookout.

This is still Lightning Lake - just the opposite side of where our campground was.

Sadie - happy to be eating chips.

Carathy was exploring the lake with her goggles.

From the Lookout. The lake right in the middle of the picture is Lighting Lake. That is where we camped.

My handsome boy and I.

Arinn and her favorite person.

Our whole family. Don't look too hard - it might just be our family Christmas picture!

Arinn having just seen a chipmunk.

The happy campers on the way home.