Strawberry Mountains

They call them the Strawberry Mountains but they're covered in huckleberries. Everywhere there isn't a trail or a camp spot there are huckleberries growing. The kids were eating them by the handfuls. The Idaho cousins (Our family along with Jason and Tiff's) met up with the Oregon cousins (Brian & Stef's family) for another camping trip this past weekend. We did it 2 years ago and now we'll have to make it an annual event. The kids had lots of fun, staying up late, getting dirty and playing with their cousins all day long.

Johnny and Ethan stuck together like glue and usually had a rope in each hand that they used to pretend they were rock climbing and lassoing everything in sight.

Our second day there we took the kids on a hike to Strawberry lake 1.4 miles from our campsite.

The water was freezing cold but that didn't stop the kids from competing who was the toughest by seeing who could get in the farthest. My kids didn't care much about the dare and mostly stuck to climbing the nearby rocks.

Here's one of my handsome hubby with his usual background music in his ear.

We got the kids these cool youth size North Face sleeping bags and the first night there we had cloud cover and the kids were way too hot. Johnny kept ending up completely out of his sleeping bag and under my cot all through the night. After a few adjustments they slept pretty good the next couple of nights. I need to find some foam pads for them to sleep on though instead of their thermarests because they were sliding around on those way too much. Next time I think a campground with showers are a must, the kids did not like their night time sponge baths but there was no way they were getting into their sleeping bags black from head to toe. Hot showers and baths were warmly welcomed as soon as we got home. Some how it is always worth the effort though, I love being outside away from it all and hope my kids gain a love for the outdoors as well.