It’s CAMPING SEASON! The most wonderful time of the year! We knew we were rolling the dice weather-wise when we headed out at the very beginning of June, but we were exceedingly eager to take a break from house to-do’s, pull out our tent, and fall asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees. Nancy booked us a site at Fort Flagler State Park, since we had such a grand time there last year and felt it was worthy of a repeat.
Juliette is more and more helpful with each subsequent year and was a perfect first mate for Shane as he set up the tent.
Mission accomplished!
Once we’d properly gotten settled, Juliette and I took a walk down to the water to check a few things off of her Junior Ranger Treasure Hunt list.
Found crabs! And a feather, and clouds, and other miscellaneous outdoor goodies.
Back at camp, Isaiah dazzled us with his champion fire-builder skills as he coached Juliette on finding the perfect sort of twigs to toss into the ring to really get the flames roaring.
The question of the weekend, from all three kids, was, “Can I throw this in the fire?” The answer was usually yes, though we learned we needed to add a few qualifiers – crumple up that paper bag before it’s tossed into the flames!
We ate our traditional fare of bratwursts and grilled veggies for dinner, paired with red wine that somehow tasted so good out of a plastic cup. I tell you, these trees work wonders on your taste buds!
After s’mores and clean-up, we walked down to the water with mugs of hot tea to skip rocks and watch the sun go down.
Juliette has a particularly fierce fondness for Jason these days and snuggles up next to him every chance she gets. I think he likes the attention.
We made it through the night with no significant wake-ups, but Juliette was up early with the birds, so I brewed myself an extra-large cup of coffee with our skillet of sausage, eggs, and hash browns.
And then, after breakfast, I just…sat. The kids ran around and tracked each other with their walkie-talkies, Shane strung up the hammock, Jason walked his slack-line, and I reveled in being completely stationary.
Eventually, though, the trails beckoned and we packed up a lunch for a hike along the bluff.
This trail is amazing. Lush and densely green for long stretches, and then it will open up to an expansive view of the water or a glowing, grassy pasture.
It’s also dotted with relics from its days as a World War II military fort, which make for some fun-but-slightly-spooky detours.
There’s no other crew I’d rather trek with…
Seriously, parts of this path felt straight out of The Shire. Dark green! Light green! Yellow-green! Olive green, Emerald green, Kelly green, oh my.
We all chilled for awhile when we got back to camp and then busted out the Monopoly cards for some friendly competition. It’s nice to play with people that don’t gloat when they win. (HA!)
Juliette had no interest in post-hike chill-axing, so we took her down to the water to let her try her hand at kite-flying at the park’s breezy coastline.
There’s always a little bit of let-down when the kids realize the actual monotony of flying a kite, but Jules got a huge kick out of trying to catch the kite as Shane reeled it in. And so he reeled it in, and tossed it back up, and reeled it in, and tossed it back up.
Also, watching the boys work on their headers was kind of hilarious.
Once the kite and the soccer ball lost their charm, we walked down to the beach for some fort-building.
Isaiah quickly declared himself captain. Jules was the driver. Jason was the chef. I was the ship’s photographer.
We dined that night over another roaring fire, courtesy of Isaiah.
There were a couple of boys close to G and Z’s ages at the site across from us and Juliette did her damnedest to keep up with the big kids. She was thrilled when they invited her to come along on their race around the campground loop.
And then, S’MORES.
Such a good life.
After the dishes were washed and the kids were pajama’d, I walked down to the water for a solo sunset stroll. (There goes that Moana song again!)
We broke down camp on Sunday morning immediately after breakfast – I’ll begrudgingly give kudos to Shane for rushing me through my morning campfire coffee as it was awfully nice to have the tent packed up as raindrops began to fall. The kids stayed dry in the car as we gathered up the last few things. I mean, it wouldn’t be a true June PNW camping trip without a little drizzle!
Cheers, gang! Camp season 2018 is off to a very promising start.
