July 6, 2017: Family Camping trip to Nehalem Bay State Park with my brother Reed and his family. We planned to meet Reed and Sakurako at camp on Friday, but Josh wanted to go up one night earlier, on Thursday, so we could avoid the Friday traffic.
The boys at a viewpoint on our way to camp.
We brought a camping hammock, but after we put it up and everyone tried it out, the park ranger came by and said no hammocks are allowed on park trees. He claimed the trees have a life expectancy of 50 years and they are 65 years old, causing them to uproot or break. So these pictures are it for our hammock fun!
We drove into the town of Manzanita and had dinner at a little mexican food place called Left Coast Siesta. It was pretty good.
The boys laughed a lot!
We let the boys each pick an assortment of candy from the candy shop in town.
Here they are building candy animals.
Versii's unicorn.
Versii and Josh getting ready for a bike ride around camp.
July 7th, 2017: The boys playing at the beach in the morning while waiting for Reed and his family to arrive at camp.
Reed, Sakurako, Loren and their dog Jerry met up with us Friday afternoon. Their other son Morgan had to work, so he wasn't able to come.
Paxton and Versii slept in the bunk beds in Uncle Reed's trailer. Paxton was very into his Zelda book.
Chef Reed, our designated camp cook.
We paid Reed to bring food for all of us and we ate very well! Hamburgers, grapes, potato salad, pasta salad and chips for dinner on night one. Pancakes, hash browns with sausage gravy, eggs, sausage and juice for breakfast the next day. We had kind of a late breakfast Saturday morning, so we just skipped right to dinner: steak kabobs with grilled zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, onions and pineapple glazed with teriyaki sauce and served over rice. Then Lil' Smoky sausages roasted over the fire, jiffy pop and s'mores for a late night snack. Sunday morning breakfast was a repeat of the day before, but with bacon instead of sausage. So much good food! Thanks again Reed and Sakurako for planning, bringing and preparing the food. We've never eaten so well while camping!
Loren
Sakurako and Reed
Our camp...although we really just slept at our site. We spent the rest of the time at Reed and Sakurako's site.
Versii recently started riding bikes and Josh let him pick out a new bike. So many campers brought bikes with them. There were always kids on bikes passing our site. Versii went out riding with Josh and Kaden a few times, but he also spent a lot of our campout just riding around the loop. He absolutely loved it! He had a few accidents, where he scuffed his ankle and knees, but he just couldn't get enough riding.
Paxton wanted to try on Versii's helmet...it was difficult to convince Versii to give it up, even for a minute, but he finally agreed.
Saturday morning we hiked around the loop that led to the bay. I think it was just under 2 miles and beautiful views.
Josh exiting the camper - This little video clip makes me laugh!
Sunday morning we hiked out to the beach to fly our kite.
Versii really got into the kite flying.
Hiking back from the beach to go pack up camp.
We had a great time! So much fun to camp with family!
We paid Reed to bring food for all of us and we ate very well! Hamburgers, grapes, potato salad, pasta salad and chips for dinner on night one. Pancakes, hash browns with sausage gravy, eggs, sausage and juice for breakfast the next day. We had kind of a late breakfast Saturday morning, so we just skipped right to dinner: steak kabobs with grilled zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, onions and pineapple glazed with teriyaki sauce and served over rice. Then Lil' Smoky sausages roasted over the fire, jiffy pop and s'mores for a late night snack. Sunday morning breakfast was a repeat of the day before, but with bacon instead of sausage. So much good food! Thanks again Reed and Sakurako for planning, bringing and preparing the food. We've never eaten so well while camping!
Jerry, such a sweet dog.
Josh and the boys made a series of short videos.
...more videos.
We had a great time! So much fun to camp with family!
