Memaloose State Park

Is that not the strangest name ever?  Ya--not sure where 'Memaloose' came from.  I had never heard of the name or the place.  Our friends the Nelsons, invited us to go camping with them the weekend of the 21st of March and this is where we went.  When Kate booked it, she was hoping for some place with no rain.  This place delivered!  It was a beautiful sunny weekend!  We headed up there on Friday the 21st, but the Nelson's came up on Saturday the 22nd, because he works on Saturday.  We didn't get there until about 8 and it was getting dark, so we cooked our hot dogs inside the trailer.  We stayed there until Monday (it was Spring Break) and everyday was so nice and relaxing.  There wasn't a pool, but they had a playground and most of the kids brought bikes.  We spent they days outside in the sunshine and the kids played and played together--mostly at the park.

 Saturday morning after breakfast, we went exploring.  There were a bunch of huge rocks to climb over and hills and trees to climb.  Then we played at the park for awhile, and then we played frisbee until lunch time. Then more riding bikes, playing with fishing poles, reading, etc.  The Nelson's came around dinner time and then we just hung out around the fire talking. 

 Maggie and Lydia exploring

 A cool panoramic shot

 It's hard to see but they are playing tether ball.

 Swinging.  I love swinging!

 Chillin' in the tire swing

 Paige too

Bella and Noah sliding

 We found this hill and they all climbed up

 This was at the top of that hill.  A tree branch was growing over the hill and these guys thought it was cool to sit on the tree branch.

 Playing frisbee.

 I don't know what it is about playing in the mud.

 Heading down the hill...

picking up speed...

 ...and he stacks it.  Luckily this time, he went in the grass.  The next time he fell on the road.  He was fine though. 

 Loving the fishing poles...still
Sunday 23rd
The Nelson's (being the good people that they are) went to sacrament meeting in one of the nearby towns.  We are heathens and didn't even think about bringing church clothes.  So, we hung out and did more of the same as the day before.

 Overlooking the Columbia River

Right below the state park there were train tracks with trains passing by constantly.  They were fairly loud, too.

 Playing at the playground...Paige, David, Brooke and Bella.

 Kate giving them a push

 and another one.
You can't see it in the pictures, but there is a bar that the tire swing is attached to above their heads.  Garrett had been pushing Lydia on the tire swing and it got so high that Lydia hit her head on the bar pretty hard.  Later in the day, Lydia kept saying that her stomach was hurting a lot and I didn't give it much attention.  But later in the evening, she ended up throwing up.  After a good night sleep she was fine.  I'm not sure if it had anything to do with hitting her head on the bar, or she just had a really short bout of the stomach flu.  But either way, she ended up having a pretty bad day.  Poor thing.

 Sitting around the camp fire.  Paige, Noah and David

David and Bella (they are the same age)

 Most of us around the fire.  Kate was cleaning up dinner, and I'm assuming her 3 oldest kids were helping her since they aren't in the picture.  Lydia was in the trailer (not feeling well).
Monday 24th
We left that afternoon and when we got home, we all pitched in and cleaned the inside and outside of both the trailer and the car.  We worked until it started getting dark.  They both looked great after though.