camping

we joined my parents for a camping trip to grand jean last weekend. it was a really beautiful area. the campground we stayed at was just a short walk to a beautiful river (too cold to swim in though) and had a hot spring pool. since we went up on Sunday, we were the only people in our area, which was really nice and peaceful. the bummer was that i was sick with the stomach flu for the first day and lyla was cranky from teething. so here's a rundown of our trip...

eli LOVES camping. he especially loves the campfire and marshmallows. in fact, he's a pusher. a marshmallow pusher. this is the problem: he loves to roast them, but likes to eat them uncooked. so what's a boy to do? push them on everyone else, that's what:)

our campsite. notice the beautiful mountain behind us. the picture does not come close to doing it justice. the rocks and trees were just amazing.

eli in a h2o fight with daddy. i love his crazy little face lit up with excitement over the 2oz of water he is about to unleash on his dad.

i don't remember what happened here...but thought the picture was funny. i think it was still part of the h2o fight.

my mom and dad. camping with my parents is really great. not only are they good company, but they take good care of us:) my mom brought most of our food and did all of the cooking. they both helped adam entertain the kids while i was not feeling well, which was really nice. thanks again mom and dad!

lyla did not like the tent or the motor home very much. she did enjoy (somewhat) crawling around in the dirt picking up and fake eating rocks. poor girl, she was really having a hard time.

she like the hot spring pool...but has no healthy fear of water. she went all the way under many times, often on purpose, and came up coughing and choking. then she would go right back to doing it again.

on the right, the crystal clear river...soooo pretty. on the left is a waterfall that adam, my dad and eli hiked to.

lyla with papa's hat lookin' cute. and on the left at some hot springs along the river.

the fam at the hot springs...

eli peeking in the tent...

me and lyla at the campfire

this was really cool. there was a dear right near our campsite. we saw him a few different times.
the other is eli enjoying a mini log chair

when we got home yesterday we could tell eli was sad. adam and i were remembering coming home from church retreats in high school and college and having a hard time coming down from the mountaintop experience. i imagine that is a bit of how he felt, poor guy. but at least he has the memories:)