Mt. Hood Village

Our good friends The Nelsons invited us to go camping with them over the long President's Day weekend.  They live down the road from us and Paige is good friends with their daughter Brooke and Bella is friends with their little boy David.  (They also have two older boys--Nicholas and Zach and are expecting baby #5 soon.)  So we were very excited to go and hang out with them over the weekend.  We left after school on Friday the 17th and the whole way up it was pouring down buckets.  Very nasty outside, but that is the whole reason we have a trailer.   When we got there that night, it was still raining, so we just hung out in the trailer and had dinner. 

(I got this picture off of the internet, because it wasn't that pretty when we got there.)

Right before eating dinner.  I know I shouldn't be taking pictures during the prayer, but Noah cracks me up.  He squints his eyes closed real tight and folds his arms for like 2 seconds and then he grabs some food to shove in his mouth, then squints his eyes closed again.  It is the funniest thing, so I was trying to capture that. 

Cute, cute girls!

The next day, (Sat.) we all decided to head up to Mt. Hood to go and play in the snow. It was kind of nasty up there--really cold and the snow blowing sideways. After taking at least 30 minutes to bundle everyone up, we got about half way up the little hill out of the parking lot before Bella and Noah were done.  We didn't even get up to the big hill where the sledding was.  Poor Noah's face was bright red and tears and snot were pouring out of his eyes and nose.  So, I took those two back to the car and got them all out of their snow clothes.  We had a snack and they played a bit and soon after, everyone else was back.  I think they each went down the hill once or twice, but that was it. 

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch.  This is Bella and her friend David eating their grilled cheese sandwiches.  They are so cute together!  DQ doesn't have the best food, but after lunch we got some ice cream.  Their blizzards are good, but I had a peanut butter and banana shake that was to die for!!  It was so good--I made myself sick eating the whole thing.  It was big, but SO good!

After lunch, we headed to the pool for some play time in the water.  David and Bella figuring out how to blow water at whosever feet those are.  They had so much fun.

Paige, Zach and Brooke

They also had a hot tub there that was so nice to relax in.  I haven't been in one forever and really enjoyed it.  Garrett loves them and swears he will get one someday. 

After our dinner, the Nelsons built a fire and we were able to sit out by it that night and talk and eat smores.

This was Sunday.  We just hung out in the morning.  The Nelson's found a church nearby so we were able to go to Sacrament Meeting. 

Noah, Paige, Brooke and Lydia

We usually leave the windows in our trailer cracked a little (when its parked at home), just to let it air out.  Even though its never happened before, somehow these nasty little bugs (I think they are box elder bugs) were coming in through the screens in our windows and they were all over the trailer.  Very gross, I know.  But, Garrett tried to show one to Noah and this is what he's holding/watching in the next couple pictures. 

This one is hilarious.  The bug is on Garrett's arm even though you can't see it.  I love Noah's expression as he's pointing to the bug.

 They went swimming again after church and lunch.  I stayed back at the trailer and read while Noah napped.  Brooke, Lydia, Zach and Maggie.

 Maggie, Zach and Nicholas playing ball.

 Paigey

 Noah enjoying his dinner

 Maggie, Bella, David, Lydia, Brooke and Paige enjoying the campfire that night

 Maggie, David, Nicholas, Paige, Bella, Kate, Brooke, Lydia and Zach

 Garrett, Bella, Paige, Brooke and me (Thanks to the Nelsons for these pictures!)

 Monday--this is right before we left.  Nicholas, Me, Zach, Mike, Garrett, Noah, Maggie, David, Brooke, Paige, Lydia and Bella.

 It's become tradition now that right before we leave, we take a hike down to the river and throw rocks in.  Unfortuneatly, it was raining again, so it wasn't as much fun.  This is everyone before we started.

 So, I'm sure Noah will be embarrassed by this picture in years to come, but we don't have any snow or rain boots for him.  Instead of buying some just for this trip, he wore Bella's old pink ones.  I thought it was hilarious. Camo pants and pink boots.  :)

 Another good shot!

 We learned after getting back into the car that snow boots are not rain boots.  His socks were soaking wet and I'm sure his toes were freezing!  He didn't cry or complain at all, until we were getting in the car. 

 Throwing rocks in the river

Thanks Mike and Kate for inviting us!  We'll have to do it again when its not raining and a little warmer!