Last day of summer

Austin fishing in the Sawtooth mountains

We had a long weekend this weekend. The kids were out of school on Friday and Monday so Rustin took Friday off and we loaded up Thursday afternoon and went camping. This is the first time since we've had kids that we went camping by ourselves without any other friends or family.

We wanted to go somewhere we had never been. Alaska and the Oregon coast were a little out of our league (this time) so we headed up past Stanley (north of Sun Valley). We took my parents' trailer AND our four wheelers. It was a little tricky to back the massive line of vehicles but Rustin did great.


We found the perfect campsite right on Marsh Creek. The water was shallow enough for the little ones. The kids had fun fishing. It was beautiful.

Benson and Dallin fishing. Dal did great 'cross-country' with his crutches.

Landon braving the creek water.

Austin in the f-f-freezing water!

We had good food. For future reference the tinfoil dinners were the biggest hit. I could have brought a lot more. And the popcorn was great.



It got really cold at night but we were great in the trailer. Benson and Dallin slept in the tent the second night. We put hot rocks in their sleeping bags and they were toasty warm.

We asked everyone their favorite thing about the trip---

Benson--sticky marshmallows
Jenna "The longest four-wheeler ride" (Rustin took all the kids for about two hours)
Austin---Popcorn cooked over the fire
Landon--Going on a long ride with Dad and Dallin
Dallin--Sleeping in the tent alone with Benson
Kim--Having everyone sleep in until 9:30 in the morning! (and reading an entire book uninterrupted!)
Rustin--Looking at the bright stars with Mommy
Molly--absolute beagle heaven with all the room to run and sniff that she could imagine



I took the little kids on a nature walk while Rustin and the twins went for a long ride. I let them each take control of the camera for a while. Here's some of what we got:

We ended the trip home with a beautiful sunset. The weather turned cold the day after we left so we had perfect timing. Definitely a great end to the summer!