Backpacking

In June, Mark planned a family backpacking trip. It was quite the adventure and I was very wary about taking our kids up a mountain and camping. But it ended up being so much fun! The kids didn't want to leave and even ate some of the dehydrated food. We camped up at Lytle Creek about a mile up the mountain. A mile isn't much, but it sure seems like it is when you have your life strapped to your back! The kids did great for the first half, but after that they wanted to be carried, so we ended up carrying them too!

 I usually had Clara and Mark had Tyler, but I think we switched at one point or Tyler walked for a while or something.

 Putting up our tent and getting settled for the night.

 I brought crayons and coloring pages because I knew we would end up in the tent before they were actually ready to sleep. It worked out pretty well!

 The mosquitos there were INSANE! Mark and I both got over 20 bites. Luckily the kids didn't get any. This is Mark smacking a mosquito. A picture I took from inside the tent where the kids and I were hiding while Mark made dinner.

 selfie time

Tyler coloring by the light of the latern at night.

Up the hill from our campsite

 The rest of the pictures kind of all look the same, but they are in a bunch of different places along the creek. We took tons as we explored. The kids had so much fun crawling over all the rocks and logs and playing in the water!

When we got back to the car the next day the kids were out before we even turned the car on. And so so dirty! I don't think I have ever been that dirty! 

The kids favorite activity was to peel bark off the fallen trees and send them down the creek and over the waterfall like little boats. At one point we almost lost Tyler's shoe over the fall. This video is of Tyler releasing his "boat" and racing it to the waterfall. Excuse my terrified mommy voice as he got close to the top of the waterfall!