Family camping trip

Right after Audrey's soccer game, she and Kate went home and started packing up for a short camping trip with the families of some of Dada's high school and college friends. As Dada loaded the car, the girls walked down with Mama to block party, where they got to jump around a bit in a bounce house before hitting the road.

As with last year, the campsite was at Silver Falls State Park. Arriving a day later than usual, there was not as much time for the girls to partake of any grand adventures in the park, but they did have lots of fun reconnecting with friends they don't see often, playing in the woods, eating junk food, and telling (non-scary) bedtime stories in the tent.

The next day, they packed up and headed home, stopping in Silverton for a late breakfast. Then it was off to a party for Uncle Keith and Aunt Allison in which they revealed the gender of their baby girl due in January (a girl, as it turned out).

Chico makes a return visit

As he has several times before, the Heartwood Preschool "pet" Chico came to stay with us a few days. Kate got to be the first kid to bring him home this school year. She and Audrey made sure Chico was properly secured in a seatbelt for the trip. He accompanied Kate on the family camping trip.

Tent Time

Audrey and Dada spent the night in a tent (borrowed from Aunt Marie) in the back yard last night. The plan was to have both girls "camp," but with Kate not feeling well we thought it best for her to sleep in her own bed. There was a lot of noise as our neighbors practiced firing off their fireworks to get ready for the Fourth of July, but Audrey, our "sleep champ," slept through all of it (including sleeping through a few bursts of shells that were so loud they startled Dada).

Silver Falls camping trip

Audrey and Kate went camping with friends (kids of some of Dada's friends from high school and college) at Silver Falls State Park this weekend. They arrived on Friday evening and "helped" Dada pick out a tent site and put up the tent as the sun was going down. It took them awhile to fall asleep, given the excitement and the new surroundings. It probably also didn't help that Kate kept sliding out of her sleeping bag and off her air mattress.

On Saturday, the main activities were going on a short hike to the North Falls and playing in the wading pool. Kate likes to throw rocks into water, and so had many opportunities to do so. Since Audrey enjoyed making bows and arrows on her backpacking trip in June, Dada brought supplies to make them again. Of course, all the kids ended up wanting ones, so Dada spent quite a bit of time assembling bows (and nunchucks and slingshots). Audrey and her friend Meagan added stick swords and guns to their "weaponry" and called themselves "The Princess Hunters" (as in, princesses that hunt). They spent quite a bit of time together over the weekend.

All in all they enjoyed the trip, although Kate was feeling decidedly un-photogenic when it was time for group photos.