Camping with the Cooks

 Just after the 24th of July, we packed up our gear and went camping with the Cooks at Twin Lakes near Preston Idaho. We showed up on a Thursday afternoon as Craig was setting up the swing in the giant tree. Most mere mortals would consider this tree impossible to climb, but my brother Craig is a tall super hero and scaled it with ease.

Then Will tossed him the rope and we were in business.

A few final adjustments and then swinging can commence.

 Elliott is terrified of swings - blame it on all the new playgrounds that do not have swings anymore. He just doesn't feel safe. I was surprised he even wanted in. He liked it as long as you didn't let go of the swing. He'll get there someday, but I'm not sure he'll ever be fearless.

 This is what cautious excitement looks like:

 And this is what fearlessness and pure excitement look like:

 Baby Jeffrey was the best camper baby ever! As long as he was out of the wind, he was a happy camper! And the other kids liked to try and entertain him. 

The small kids were thrilled to play in the rocks and sand. Luckily we brought buckets and shovels and cars. Emily and Elmo, Ephraim, Joey, Elliott and Ruby having fun.

 The best part of camping on a lake is playing in the water, especially on the hot afternoons in July. Craig and Holly brought their canoe. Craig and Keith taking out Will and Joey. (The moms kept the little ones in floaties in the shallow end. 

 Elliott didn't like the dirty cold water at all! I tried taking him out, but he was grossed out and wanted nothing to do with it after that. He did enjoy throwing rocks in the water and after all, someone needed to do that. 

 Will floating in the lake and Keith and Craig with Peyton in the boat.

 Elliott hated the water, but was intrigued by the boat. Brian also wanted a turn in the canoe, so Keith and Will took Brian and Elliott out for a ride. 

 However, Brian is not a sailor and there was an issue with the balance right away. 

 AND THEY TIPPED OVER!

 Keith has awesome fast reflexes and grabbed the boat and fished Elliott out of the water immediately. (I wish I had taken a video of this, it was hilarious!) Brian brought a screaming Elliott ashore. We are glad they tipped over so close to shore, it could've been worse. 

 Needless to say, Elliott didn't want anything to do with the boat or lake after this.  The boys rescued the boat as Brian brought Elliott to mommy. 

 I loved watching the kids trek back up to camp after playing in the water.

Ruby warming up all by herself!

Elliott was very excited to see his bed and toys set up in our tent. It is exciting to go camping. 

Here is our beautiful camping spot. We have a nice big tent and had Will and Joe come in with us. Then  since it started raining and Keith and Ben were sleeping under the stars on the shore, I sent Brian out to bring them into our tent. We all fit snugly and had a wonderful night protected from the wind and rain.

 Craig and Holly's outdoor home.

 The aunts' trailer with Ephraim in the swing.

The camp with Dewey and Liz's trailer. 

 There is lots of down-time between meals while you camp and Elliott and Brian started playing catch.

 Elliott and Holly playing in the rocks and Emily cheesing it up for the camera. 

 Little boy heaven - rocks, dirt and cars!

 I love that camping with the aunts includes lots of games and reading. With this in mind, I brought some things to keep the kids occupied so the adults could play too. However, I forgot that they'd need a lot of supervision and help with their projects, so I ended up doing that too. But don't worry, I got several great rounds of boggle in! 

 Ephraim and Joey painting their stained glass pictures. 

 Will and Ruby painting too.

 Elliott's finished product. It was from the dollar store so not great quality and then several days in the hot car rendered the paint globby and gross, but we still had fun.

 Next into the trailer to escape the wind the make picture frames.

 Baby Jeffrey still happy!

 Holly, Emily, Craig and Jeffrey.

 Joey's finished frames.

Will's frame. (Look at those gorgeous eyes and eyelashes!)

 Ephraim's frame.

 Ruby's frame.

 Ben's frame.

 Emily's frame.

Elliott's frame and cute mug!

 Mine and Gaylene's frames.

During snack time, you have to find your own spot and Elliott found the box. 

 One science experiment revealed that generous amounts of sunscreen attract dirt.

 There is nothing quite like dirty dirty fingers with some squirt cheese. Finger lickin' good!

 And more pictures of a lovable dirty face.

 We cleaned him up, changed his clothes and loaded up Saturday afternoon to head for home. Some of the Cooks stayed for a few more days, be we Ashtons were exhausted and ready for our comfy beds and air conditioning.

 We had so much fun camping and being with family. We definitely want to go again! Now we just have to wait through the winter and we'll be gearing up again. Thank you, thank you to Dewey and Liz, Craig and Holly, Keith and Rachael and the aunts (Jennie, Cindy, Mona, Gaylene, Nancy and Eileen)   for being awesome and making camping so much fun!