We took our first family camping trip of the year last weekend! We headed back to Lost Lake with our friend's, The Myra's. Remember when Sam, Timothy, and I went for his birthday back in May and how much snow there was? That was insane. Well thankfully the melt off happened fast and the Lost Lake Campground was back to normal, lol.
Something different for this trip; we decided we would take Sam's pup, Chunky. We are really hoping to appropriately train her so we can take her places with us. This was her first time gone away from home overnight, and she did smashingly well! I do feel bad it was such an intense first time.....3 days and nights away from her home and Daisy and Leo was probably a lot for her to handle as her first time, but she really was such a good girl and she did so well.
We arrived Thursday and wasted no time setting up camp and then hitting the trail for a nice walk about to scope out the lake. What I love about Lost Lake is the very do-able trail around the whole lake. It's about 2 1/2 miles, and a good chunk of that is easy boardwalk (love boardwalk trails!!), so it's not too much for most people to handle. And you have plenty of opportunities to go off trail to get closer to the water if you want. We didn't go around the whole lake this time, we just walked a little ways to check out the water and figure out where we wanted to set up base for our water day.
The rest of the evening we spent around our camp fires stuffing our faces with food, haha. The kids walked the logs, went on their own walks, threw the football, and had a merry 'ol time!
Friday was our water day! We shipped Anthony down to the spot we decided on with all our stuff to hold our spot until we could all get there. It definitely wasn't warm enough to jump in the lake and swim, but that's ok. We know that it's always a toss up camping in June....some years it's in the 80'-90's and swimming is totally happening. Other years we're lucky if it reaches the 70's and there's no way you're stepping foot in the water, lol. So while it was sunny and probably 75*, it wasn't warm enough to swim. Instead we rented a boat and just spent the whole day down by the water taking turns on the boat and taking in the views. The views of Hood never disappoint!
I think it was about 6pm when we headed back to camp. After a long day on the water in the sun, everyone was pretty pooped out! Time to relax by the fire and do our favorite thing.....eat!
Unfortunately our friends had to leave Saturday instead of being able to stay the final night and leave Sunday. We made sure to get our traditional group photos before they left though!
Once they were packed up and we said our goodbyes, Sammy and I decided we wanted to hike around the lake with Chunky. Anthony joined us, but Molly and Timothy decided to stay back at camp. We had an amazing time on that hike! And Chunky did so awesome. We're trying to teach her that when other people and dogs are coming, it's best to pull over, ignore them, and just let them pass on by. It's going to be so great to be able to have a dog we can take everywhere with us! I was hoping that could have been Leo, but he hates cars soooo much, I don't often bring him places. And Daisy can get too strong and hard to handle. So hopefully we can do a good job with Chunky. So far so good!
I am at my happiest when out in the woods hiking with my family. That is my happy place. I wish Molly and Timothy would have come with, but it was really nice to get that alone time with Anthony. I think he enjoyed the time as well!
After we made it back to camp, we settled in for a couple hours of game time! Uno, Family Fued, some sort of race against the clock shape sorting game, etc. You forget how much fun you can have just sitting around with your kids playing games. Afterwards we visited the shop to buy the kids drinks and ice cream, then it was back to camp for dinner and hours of talking around the fire. It was a good day! Family time is definitely the best time.
Sunday we loaded up camp, hit the showers, and made one more visit to the shop for ice creams and stickers. It's always sad to leave, but I do always look forward to seeing my pup and sleeping in my own bed!
I am forever thankful for trips like these. I hope my babies will look back on these camping trip memories with fondness and love.
With love, Mama Hauck
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