Camping With 2 Year Olds

It's as glamorous as it sounds.

Last month we went up to the North Cascades and to the Hood Canal to go camping.

  We were so excited to go, we just had to hug!  Just Kidding.
I found this photo from when we went to Canada and I liked it and this is my blog and I can do what I want.

Anyway, back to what I was talking about.

Camping.

If you know me, you know that I didn't necessarily grow up in what you would call a "Campin' Family".

Camping to my family was staying in a hotel in Page when we went to Lake Powell every year.

So when I married into TJ's family, he told me that his favorite memories were going camping on weekends in his family's tent trailer.

There was an audible gasp when I heard that.

When we had the boys, I knew that camping was in my future.

I was ready to take it head on.

And you know what?

I really like camping!

A lot of people think that we are nuts to go with our boys, but we have figured out what works for us.

Like bedtime, for example

We have learned that if we wear them out

bring their Pack N Plays

and sing as many Primary Songs that we need to, they will fall asleep.

When the boys would go down, TJ and I would be able to play cards and just hang out.

Here are some of my favorite photos from our last two campouts.

I've noticed that the nicest people are the people we meet while camping and hiking.

It must be all of that fresh air.

A Visit To America's Ugly Hat

One of the greatest things, when living out of town, is when your parents come in town and for us, that was last weekend.

We spent the whole weekend gallivanting around Victoria, British Columbia like we didn't have a care in the world.

The first day we were there, we went to Butchart Gardens.

It was beautiful, but it was way too expensive.

I'm talking $35 a person.

I told TJ for that money, their better be a freakin' roller coaster in there.

There wasn't.

Then it was onto a double decker bus tour around the island.

We thought that this would be a good way to figure out what we wanted to do for the rest of the weekend.

The boys liked it for about 15 minutes, and then it was time to start entertaining them.

We tried everything.

Then we went to have dinner.

Now, if you head out to Victoria, make sure you eat at Red Fish Blue Fish.

My Dad served an LDS Mission in England for two years and even HE said that they had the best fish and chips he has ever had.

We ate there twice and we would have eaten there more if the line wasn't so freaking long.

So, the next day was quite the adventure.

We had a little car accident

Got pooped on by someone (I won't mention names)

and then someone threw up in the backseat (again, I won't mention names)

But seriously, we still had a great day!

We ended that day on the beach searching for crabs and skipping rocks.

We also went to the Museum of History there.

It was a big hit.

But I think one of the coolest parts was the three hour Ferry we took to get to Victoria and back.

There is nothing like boating through the San Juan Islands.

Come back soon Mom and Dad!  

We had so much fun and miss you!

So Many Trips. So Many Guests.

I want to set the record straight that I have tried to blog about five times since I last posted, but our stream wasn't working and I didn't want to blog enough to fix it.

Anyway...

It's back and I'm back, so get ready for some blogging gold.

Like the title of this post states, we have been busy.

Here is a list of guests

Yeah, it's a screen shot.  Don't you hate it when you get this angle in a photo?  You're sitting to the side with an awkward and unflattering twist? 

Tyler and Erika Hanks.

Two of our favorites.

They were catching an Alaskan Cruise and stayed with us for a night.  We went to this awesome, expensive restaurant.  The problem was that the portions were tiny, so you better believe we went and got burgers and shakes afterwords. 

A few days later, I got a phone call around 10:00 PM from TJ's sister Sydney and her boyfriend Dallas, telling me that they were an hour out of Seattle and were going to stay with us for the weekend.

After the initial "holy crap, my house is a wreck" moment, I got my shiz together and started cleaning my house.

We had a great weekend getting to know Dallas and having so much fun.

We were able to get them into the Amazon Family Picnic.

It's not the kind of picnic you're thinking of.

When Amazon does a picnic, they go all out.

They have a "picnic" in Seahawks Stadium on their Astroturf or whatever that football grass stuff is called.

This was the slide where my skirt came completely up while I jumped down it.
It was a proud moment for all of us.

When Amazon does something, they do it right.

My Parents came in town the next weekend and I think that deserves a post all it's own.

We also went camping twice in the middle of all of this.

I'm tired just thinking about everything we have done it.

Seattle in the summer is the best.