Sires/Leavenworth Camping Trip, August 5th-7th

For the past few years now, my cousin Chris, who lives just outside famous Leavenworth with his family, has thrown a group camping trip and invited us to join. The past two years we haven't been able to go, and it's really bummed me out. So this year, as soon as I saw the invite, I cleared the calendar so we could attend! Anthony didn't go with us, as he was on his first ever getaway with a few of his buddies to a lake house in Spokane. We missed having him with us, but I think it was so great for him to have that opportunity. 

I am so glad we put forth the effort to go on this trip! I have really started to work on being more intentional with my time and how I want to live my life, and this trip was important to me. I really wanted to reconnect with Chris, because I know we are a lot alike, and connections are important.  I was anxious at first, because I don't often get the opportunity to spend much time with extended family, so I wasn't sure if I would feel awkward or not. Chris and his wife, Laura, just had this way about them that made you feel like you belonged there all along. They welcomed us with open arms and we had an absolute blast! In fact, all his friends that were in attendance that weekend were very kind and friendly. Everyone was just there to relax and have a great time, and the vibe was amazing. 

Chris' house is at the very end of a long, steepish driveway. We set up camp about middle of the way, at his future guest house/Air bnb building. It was nice to have hook ups and a porta potty just feet away! 

We got the full property tour from Chris, then Timothy got in some swim time, then we cooked some dinner at the camper and hung out at the house until it got dark.

Later that evening, Sam went on a night time hike with Chris and two other guys, so I took Mols and Tim back down to the camper where we snacked ourselves silly and played games until we fell asleep. 

Saturday morning we couldn't keep Tim from getting in the pool straight away, haha! It was already so hot out, so I don't blame him. We hung out for a bit, then Chris took Sam and I on a hike along the ridge that surrounds his property. It was steep....and took about 50ish minutes round trip. We were dripping with sweat by the time we got back, but it was such a lovely hike. I especially loved getting a tour of his "office" he built further up his property. After my Uncle Steven died, Chris decided he needed a change. He built a large out building at his favorite spot on his property and once completed, started working remotely from there. It's beautiful and the views are spectacular. He built it with his own two hands and had to carry everything....every piece of wood, every bag of cement, etc. up to the build site. I think that's amazing. I should have taken a photo of the building, but we got so caught up in talking, I forgot. 

Molly and Timothy really wanted to spend some time checking out the Leavenworth Village, so after Sam and I got back from our hike, we took a quick dip in the pool to cool off, then we loaded on up and spent a few hours walking around. It was so beautiful out! Molly and Timothy really loved the aesthetics of Leavenworth. We visited a whole bunch of pretty cool shops, it was hard not to blow all of our money. One shop in particular blew the kids' minds.....it was a huge candy shop! They really dug that, so did Sam! We got ice cream at Coldstone, then found a bakery where we bought a few pretzels with cheese. Sam was in Heaven when we found the village's Christmas shop....we spent quite a bit of time in there looking around, lol. 

After a few hours, we finally decided it was time to head back to the house. It would have been nice to have spent more time there, but we had a pot luck and a concert calling out names! 

The evening was spectacular. While we were gone, a few more people showed up, and everyone was just hanging out at the house, chatting, relaxing, and swimming. Timothy and Sam decided they needed to take another dip in the pool, then we settled on down in our chairs for the pot luck and concert Chris had planned. We made crock pot calico beans to go along with the pulled pork Chris made. Someone else brought tacos and they were seriously so good! The band was pretty dang awesome! They sang in Spanish, so I had no idea what they were singing about, but it didn't matter because they sounded amazing regardless, lol. It was such a fun evening of just hanging out, listening to the band, and stuffing our faces full of food! I couldn't have asked for more! 

Sunday morning came way too quickly. I really didn't want to leave. We packed up our camp, then headed to the house for our goodbyes. I'm annoyed because I didn't get any photos with Chris, Laura, or the kids. Others were there in the house as we were saying goodbye, and I didn't want to bug anyone for group photos. Hopefully next time. We definitely plan to return. 

I am so thankful we made this trip. It felt so good to reconnect and share that time. 

With love,

Mama Hauck