Camping at Crater Lake

So the following weekend after our hellish camping trip, I packed up all 4 kids and went camping with my parents, Ian and Em. Leaving Jonathan home for a blissful, I mean lonely 2 days, without us.

When we arrived at Crater Lake we noticed how windy it was. Miss T



Did I mention it was windy??



Can you tell somebody loves her Tio Ian??







Shortly after arrival Miss E decided to sport the dalmatian look by playing in the fire pit. This is what happens when I'm trying to set up our tent and watch 4 kids.

They have bear boxes in each camp site for campers to put all their food in, instead of waking up to a bear breaking into your car or devouring the food you left out. This ended up scaring p-man. Not the bear box itself (all though I was a bit scared that a child might get locked in one via another sibling) but the fear of a bear encounter. As I was getting all 4 kids to bed and we were all in our tent, p-man started asking about the bears, and what I was going to do when they came. I assured him that these were black bears and they were more scared of us then we should be of them. P-man asked why, and I explained that they are wild animals, and that some people have guns. He seemed to feel better, but then Busy chimes in with "bad guys are going to come." I knew then, it was going to be a long night.

I didn't get much sleep, it was really cold and I eventually wound up having all 4 kids in bed with me, which is fine except Miss E has to be on top of me when she sleeps with me. When I brought Miss T to bed I laid her on my chest to warm her up, I felt this little hand worm under my arm, between my arm and my body and find her sisters hand. I thought Miss E must be awake only to discover she was sound asleep along with Miss T, but they slept and held onto one another.

Day 2: We went on a hike, down to the lake where you can catch a boat that takes you on a tour of the entire lake and drops you off on Wizard Island so you can explore and play for a few hours. Nana stayed at the camp ground with the pups and the rest of us left. When we got there we learned that the boat that does the Wizard Island tours was not running, nana had planned ahead we already had our tickets so they credited the difference and we decided to take the tour around the lake, but we were sad we wouldn't be able to hang out on Wizard Island.
As you can tell from the pic below no one slept well and Miss T was not enjoying our hike.

Our sweet Busy, who was loving every minute of this adventure. Sporting her sisters hat.







Isn't the color of the water amazing?? This picture doesn't do it justice. It's so gorgeous there.

We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the warmth while we waited for our boat ride.

Miss T covered in the white ash that was every where and got on everything.

I was a bit of a crazy person worrying about kiddos going over the edge and off the cliff we picnicking next to. Thank goodness for all the help, especially Auntie Em who was my saving grace, I wouldn't have been able to survive without her.

The local ground squirrels were very friendly and loved all the food the kids were willing to share and the food that they were not so willing to share. One squirrel took Busy's sandwich right out of her hand, the entire thing and dragged her hand along with it till she finally let go.

You can see it in the picture below down by Miss Ts foot. Our friendly wildlife specialist was ok with the wild animals getting this close to his grand kids so I tried to be cool about it too.

Oh yes and then we all climbed on the boat, did I mention that this boat ride was during nap time, or that we didn't sleep well the night before, or that I was the only parent on this crazy adventure. Yes it is true, we had a Aunt, Uncle, and Grandpa, but when you have 2 (thats right count them) melting down babes, the other parent is a good one to have on board. So the rest of the boat got to enjoy the screaming of my 2 over tired toddlers for over an hour. This was so much fun that I started planning my escape: get off boat, hike up hill, load up kids, drive back to camp site, pack up camp site, drive 2 1/2 hours home and sleep in my bed tonight. Or something along those lines. About 3/4 of the way through the boat tour they both finally fell asleep. Busy was asleep on Tio Ian's and Auntie Em's lap and P-man was sitting quietly. The bliss of peace only lasted for about 10 minutes before p-man informed me that he needed to go potty, on a vessel with no rest room, again what was I thinking. And for the last hour and a half we have been lectured on the purity of the water we are floating on, so I can't exactly have him go over the side of the boat. What to do?? Assure the kid that we are almost back (I have no idea how much longer, but am getting ready to push the long winded park ranger over board and get this boat back to shore myself. What can I say I was in a bad place.) Calculate all my options, I have none. In the end we made it back in time. Miss E and Miss T were much happier on the hike back up. P-man wasn't, but 3 out of 4 I can handle with a smile. Grandpa pulled out peanut butter M&M's which helped raise my moral, although I was a tad grumpy he didnt think to pull them out for that hour and a half of screaming on the boat. By the time we made it back to camp, I had decided to postpone my escape plan and stick it out for another night. Which was wonderful, we had a great time and everyone slept well.

































Did I mention the girls were tired?? Miss T all tuckered out.

Miss E

Back at the campsite

Grandpa and Miss E







Auntie Em cooking breakfast over the fire.







I love dirty camping faces, and hands, and bodies. The kids had a great time.













So in closing, I really do love and enjoy camping, even if my most recent camping post haven't shared that. I love the outdoors, sleeping in a tent, my kids getting dirty and having fun, spending time with family and friends, it really is wonderful.