We rented a group camping site for this weekend at one of our favorite local campgrounds, Jones Creek in the Tillamook Forest. We have been camping here before on our own and had a great time, so when I saw they had only one weekend available all summer for the group site, we jumped on it and starting planning a grand camping adventure with Angie and family.
The group site is huge! It has space for 2-3 tents in the main area where the fire pit is, and then two more spots off short trails to the side. Since it was just our two families, we set up together in the main spot, although the kids all tended to congregate together in one of the tents:
Angie had stopped at a farm stand on the way to the campsite, and picked up some fresh berries and sugar snap peas, which the girls happily demolished together:
After we got camp set up and had lunch, we took off to the river for a little fishing.
It was totally the wrong time of day to go to actually catch anything, but half the fun of fishing is the time spent on the bank giggling at your miserable fishing skills with your friends and family! Angie was sporting a fishing accessory much cuter than rubber waders or those funny hats fishermen typically wear:
Matthew and Killian getting ready to go off on their own, and then contemplating life on the river:
After an afternoon of unsuccessful (but fun!) fishing foibles, we headed back to the campsite and Rowan spotted this tiny bunny along the way. He is nearly perfectly camouflaged, but kids have great eyes for spotting adorable little critters:
The next morning by the fire, I caught Rowan roasting something unusual:
A sugar snap pea! Apparently just a few had made it through unscathed from the previous day, just to be slowly roasted over a hot morning fire!
Killian quietly contaminating life while staring into the fire:
Rowan wasn't the only kid roasting weird things that morning - Killian decided to see how a fire warmed strawberry would taste! Guess this is what paleo kid are forced to turn to when you take away their marshmallows ;)
After breakfast the morning of our second day, we took a little walk up to the Tillamook Forest Center. The building is set up like a museum of sorts, and the kids had a great time racing around completing the scavenger hunt and checking out all the cool old logging equipment. They even had a little chat with this well known fella:
There is a replica fire tower right outside, so we all climbed to the top of that to check out the view. Rowan high up in the trees:
Angie and Brett (with baby Callie's leg poking out from behind):
On the way back to the campsite, we spotted this crazy looking bug. Check out those striped antenna (click the picture to make it bigger)!
Our family on the bridge that connects the Forest Center to the campsite:
After lunch, we headed down to look for a new fishing spot on the river. Our timing was crappy again (midday isn't the best time to catch fish!) but we had fun and rolled with it. The girls found some pools of water just off the river to entertain themselves in:
Which, upon closer inspection, were filled with hundreds of built in entertainment - tadpoles!!
I have never seen so many tadpoles in one place, and to be honest, they kind of grossed me out a little. Especially when they would all congregate in one side of the pool and slither around together in a huge mass of slimy black...ewwwww!
I love this shot of Matthew helping Rowan cast her line. He is such an amazing dad, and just when I think I cant possibly love him anymore, I see him doing something like this and my heart swells with love just a little bit more. The kids and I are so incredibly blessed!
A little more help from daddy....
And then she was ready to strike out on her own:
Killian, AKA, master fisherman. He had a great time flinging his line out across the river (I secretly think he was trying to see if he could snag something on the other side) and hanging out with Matthew and Brett, AKA, the big boys.
When we were all thoroughly discouraged with our lack of fishing prowess, we dropped our gear off at camp and headed out for a hike to a waterfall that the trail said was only a mile away. Matthew and the kids and I hiked this same trail last year, in search of the same waterfall, and after hiking for close to an hour and not finding it, we had turned around and headed back to the campsite. This year was bound to be different, and we gamely strapped on our backpacked, loaded up with water and snacks and headed out on the trail. This time we hiked for over and hour, and still didn't find the stupid waterfall! We wandered gamely on, sure that it was just around the next bend, but finally had to admit defeat and head for home when Catie completely broke down and lost it on the trail. She pretty much screamed and had a gigantic temper tantrum the entire hike home, so we were all completely drained and exhausted by the time we got back. And we still hadn't seen the promised waterfall! Either that sign in wrong, or the person who wrote it has a funny definition of a mile.
The next morning at the campsite, the kids were all in great spirits, digging in the dirt and helping Callie collect flowers:
Happy flower baby:
It was our last day, so we did a quick hike and then just hung around the camp for most of the morning. Rowan chose to eat part of her lunch by the river, soaking up the wilderness while munching on her hot dog:
We didn't have any luck finding fish or waterfalls, but we did find slimy tadpoles, Smokey the Bear, funny insects, towers to climb, quiet time in nature and a whole lot of fun. Can't ask for much more than that out of a weekend in the woods!
The group site is huge! It has space for 2-3 tents in the main area where the fire pit is, and then two more spots off short trails to the side. Since it was just our two families, we set up together in the main spot, although the kids all tended to congregate together in one of the tents:
Angie had stopped at a farm stand on the way to the campsite, and picked up some fresh berries and sugar snap peas, which the girls happily demolished together:
After we got camp set up and had lunch, we took off to the river for a little fishing.
It was totally the wrong time of day to go to actually catch anything, but half the fun of fishing is the time spent on the bank giggling at your miserable fishing skills with your friends and family! Angie was sporting a fishing accessory much cuter than rubber waders or those funny hats fishermen typically wear:
Matthew and Killian getting ready to go off on their own, and then contemplating life on the river:
After an afternoon of unsuccessful (but fun!) fishing foibles, we headed back to the campsite and Rowan spotted this tiny bunny along the way. He is nearly perfectly camouflaged, but kids have great eyes for spotting adorable little critters:
The next morning by the fire, I caught Rowan roasting something unusual:
A sugar snap pea! Apparently just a few had made it through unscathed from the previous day, just to be slowly roasted over a hot morning fire!
Killian quietly contaminating life while staring into the fire:
Rowan wasn't the only kid roasting weird things that morning - Killian decided to see how a fire warmed strawberry would taste! Guess this is what paleo kid are forced to turn to when you take away their marshmallows ;)
After breakfast the morning of our second day, we took a little walk up to the Tillamook Forest Center. The building is set up like a museum of sorts, and the kids had a great time racing around completing the scavenger hunt and checking out all the cool old logging equipment. They even had a little chat with this well known fella:
There is a replica fire tower right outside, so we all climbed to the top of that to check out the view. Rowan high up in the trees:
Angie and Brett (with baby Callie's leg poking out from behind):
On the way back to the campsite, we spotted this crazy looking bug. Check out those striped antenna (click the picture to make it bigger)!
Our family on the bridge that connects the Forest Center to the campsite:
After lunch, we headed down to look for a new fishing spot on the river. Our timing was crappy again (midday isn't the best time to catch fish!) but we had fun and rolled with it. The girls found some pools of water just off the river to entertain themselves in:
Which, upon closer inspection, were filled with hundreds of built in entertainment - tadpoles!!
I have never seen so many tadpoles in one place, and to be honest, they kind of grossed me out a little. Especially when they would all congregate in one side of the pool and slither around together in a huge mass of slimy black...ewwwww!
I love this shot of Matthew helping Rowan cast her line. He is such an amazing dad, and just when I think I cant possibly love him anymore, I see him doing something like this and my heart swells with love just a little bit more. The kids and I are so incredibly blessed!
A little more help from daddy....
And then she was ready to strike out on her own:
Killian, AKA, master fisherman. He had a great time flinging his line out across the river (I secretly think he was trying to see if he could snag something on the other side) and hanging out with Matthew and Brett, AKA, the big boys.
When we were all thoroughly discouraged with our lack of fishing prowess, we dropped our gear off at camp and headed out for a hike to a waterfall that the trail said was only a mile away. Matthew and the kids and I hiked this same trail last year, in search of the same waterfall, and after hiking for close to an hour and not finding it, we had turned around and headed back to the campsite. This year was bound to be different, and we gamely strapped on our backpacked, loaded up with water and snacks and headed out on the trail. This time we hiked for over and hour, and still didn't find the stupid waterfall! We wandered gamely on, sure that it was just around the next bend, but finally had to admit defeat and head for home when Catie completely broke down and lost it on the trail. She pretty much screamed and had a gigantic temper tantrum the entire hike home, so we were all completely drained and exhausted by the time we got back. And we still hadn't seen the promised waterfall! Either that sign in wrong, or the person who wrote it has a funny definition of a mile.
The next morning at the campsite, the kids were all in great spirits, digging in the dirt and helping Callie collect flowers:
Happy flower baby:
It was our last day, so we did a quick hike and then just hung around the camp for most of the morning. Rowan chose to eat part of her lunch by the river, soaking up the wilderness while munching on her hot dog:
We didn't have any luck finding fish or waterfalls, but we did find slimy tadpoles, Smokey the Bear, funny insects, towers to climb, quiet time in nature and a whole lot of fun. Can't ask for much more than that out of a weekend in the woods!