Camping Trip, Part 1: Campsite Fun

We went camping for Memorial Day weekend, starting on Holly's birthday.  Even though we began looking several weeks beforehand, it was difficult to find a campsite.  We finally made a reservation at Indian Henry Campground in the Mt. Hood National Forest, just along the Clackamas River.

The campground's website said that it had been closed due to fallen trees, but after several phone calls we learned that the loop we were on would be open....although, sadly, the bathrooms were down (= port-a-potties).  So, after our arrival and removing some branches from the tent site, we were able to set up camp, where we'd be for the next 3 days.

 

We enjoyed exploring the forest and the paths throughout the campground, but we also enjoyed time in our campsite.  One afternoon Damon helped Maggie and Gunnar play a boardgame on a makeshift card table. We also--never say it--brought our portable DVD player and watched some movies in the tent at night.  That's something I always thought was cheating while camping, but it was a good way to wind down the kids when it was too dark to be out of the tent, especially in the chilly, damp weather that we had that weekend.

 

Here's Adah doing a bit of reading by the fire--this girl is a bookworm if there ever was one:

 

Holly loved the fire. Heck, all the kids did. I don't know how we managed it, but we don't have a single kid afraid of fire.  When I was little, I had a very healthy respect for flames and left the fire tending to the bigger people. Not our kids! They all want to get in on the action and stick things in it. We had to be pretty vigilant to keep the bigger kids from setting a bad example for the littlest one, as we definitely didn't want her getting too close to the fire.

 

Here's Gunnar giving me a nice grin. You can see some scooters behind him. We got these for the kids a couple of summers ago after being on another camping trip and seeing other kids in the campground with them. They're so compact and easy to bring in the car that I was excited to bring them along this time. There were a few slips and falls the first morning because the road was slick, but mostly they were a fun diversion.

 

The campsite came complete with a log see-saw and a little friend next door. There was a very friendly 7-year-old who came over and played with our kids quite a bit. I think she and Maggie exchanged phone numbers before we left. 

 

The campground had some fun paths through the woods and near the river that we explored on little walks. We loved this hollow stump that we found just along the road that went through the campground.

 

 

Good campground.....if they had only planned ahead and had more than TWO port-a-potties for 100 people on a holiday weekend!  Eeeewww.