Summer Adventure

This past weekend was one of our greatest adventures yet.

Its always such a joy to be able to say that after a trip requires so many months of planning, so many hours of driving, and race fees in a sum you swear you will never pay again.

Except we are totally paying the race fees again.

Yep, the weekend was that great.

On Friday we loaded up the kids and the camping gear and hit the road for Washougal, WA.  Skilled parents that we are, we planned ahead and found a great park in Hermiston, OR for our pit stop.

Giant xylophones built right in!

And a splash pad to boot.

By mid-afternoon we arrived at our campsite in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, where Justin's parents were waiting for us.  We've talked about camping together for years and finally made it happen.  Bonus: they have a trailer!

Can you believe these trees?  I was in awe.

I even had got to wear a sweatshirt most of the time at our campsite.  It was wonderful.

I really need to get out of the desert more often.

As was expected, the boys thrived in their camping habitat.

The twins' finally conceded that s'mores are indeed delicious.

Not long after setting up our tent Kendry asked why he couldn't see the volcano (i.e. Mount St. Helens).  Darn all those tall gorgeous trees!  So on Saturday we took a short drive up to a great lookout.  

{Incidentally, on our drive back home on Sunday he also got to see Mt. Hood, another volcano.  We pretty much made his summer with these two sightings.}

But the real weekend adventure was our race. On Saturday morning Justin and I braved our very first Spartan Sprint, 4+ miles of running, mud and obstacles.  

We were both pretty pleased with how we did.  While we don't anticipate becoming regular Spartan racers, we are already looking to register for another sprint in 2016.  This really is an impressive and challenging race.  A big shout out to Justin's parents who watched the boys for several hours so we could do this; you both are amazing grandparents!

We headed home on Sunday, finding another neat rest stop and playground in Arlington, OR, where the boys practiced their own Spartan skills.  

Did I mention that I totally bombed on the monkey bars and rings in my race?

I taught him this pained look.

Not on my next race though.