Camping!

What better way to celebrate the start of summer (and summer vacation) then to go camping?  The weather around these here parts doesn't always cooperate with the seasons according to the calendar.  And wouldn't you know it, the weekend we chose to pitch our tents was looking a little "iffy".  But we thought we'd chance it anyhow.  We headed off to Mt. Rainier (formerly known as Mountain Reindeer in our home) National Park to the Ohanapecosh campground, which we've been wanting to try out for a while now.  A chance of rain helped our cause by making the first-come-first-serve sites easier to snag. 
 The sun was out on one day--and so was the mountain!

 The campground is very wooded--which made our site nice and private.  The green just glows all around you.  Cloudy weather makes sitting around the campfire with a cup of hot chocolate that much more amazing. 

 Daddy is keeper of the fire!

 Snuggling together in the tent makes the night cozy and warm.  Actually, I was under the impression that we would be dealing with cold nights.  I was worried about keeping the kids (and myself) warm enough to sleep.  But I must say, this was probably the warmest I've ever been at night while camping.  The cloud cover trapped in any day time heat--and the bodies in our tent are getting bigger (especially mine)--making the tent warmer. 

 We were blessed to be joined by these two fun-loving girls.  The kids were overjoyed to have some cousins along!  And P and M were subjected to approximately 500 games of Capture the Flag.  They got to listen to Adventures in Odyssey for most of the drive and they got to play Hang Man for a good hour as well.  Thanks for being good sports, girls!

 Boys just love poking sticks into the fire, don't they?  He kept calling the flaming sticks his "smokers".  He used to call cigarettes "smokers", so I'm not sure about all this smoker talk : ) 

 There I am--large and in charge and happily digging into a bag of chips and some cottage cheese.  Give a Pregosauras some food and she's happy no matter where she is!

A parting shot of The Mountain as it's known around the greater Seattle area.  We went on a couple of hikes while we were camping--but I'll save those posts for tomorrow.  That is when I took the majority of the pictures and I'm having trouble choosing between them....so it will more than likely be a picture heavy post.