diamond/crater lake extravaganza!

last weekend, my parents, sister, brother, sis-in-law, two nephews, a niece, a family friend and i went camping. well, most of us did. my parents stayed at the crater lake lodge while the rest of us toughed it out at diamond lake. we had an amazing time, and the only frustrating thing...mosquitoes.

the drive was LONG. i love road trips especially when i don't have to drive. :o) katelyn and i amused ourselves with cheerios and cameras and walkie-talkie conversations to the other vehicle.

diamond lake was stunning and peaceful. the campsite was busy, but so close to the water. at night, we were serenaded by fellow campers singing praise songs. unfortunately, i never saw who they were. after we had successfully squished all of the blood-sucking vermin that had weaseled their way into our tent, there was no way i was getting out.

covered in dust and bug spray, hot and tired from setting up camp after the long car ride, we made a beeline straight to the swimming area. meshach and azariah LOVED it, and mari was ok until she got splashed. i could have stayed much longer...but it was dinner time!

the sun rose and the mosquitoes were up before us. after breakfast in the van, we met up with my parents at crater lake. we wandered, had a picnic, took pictures and stared into the mesmerizing deep blue water.

during a much needed nap time for the kiddos (and the grandparents...), four of us trekked down to the lake. interesting side note: the hikers at crater lake are not as friendly as gorge hikers. conversations, smiles and hellos are frequent in the gorge as you are passing people...we rarely got a head nod at crater lake. anyways, the view was sweet from the bottom and i wish we would've had time to take the guided boat tour. monica and i dangled our feet into the frigid water while brandon swam for a couple minutes. the walk back to the top was tiring. apparently it is the equivalent of going up 65 flights of stairs. i quickly realized why most of the people walking up weren't to chatty. :o)

on sunday, mom and dad met us at diamond lake. we rented a pontoon boat and went exploring. meshach desperately wanted to try out his new fishing pole, so we dropped anchor and anticipated a whole lot of nothing. to our surprise we caught one! i caught the only picture...milliseconds later it came off of the hook and back into the lake. we think it was about 15 inches long! pretty exciting.

sadly, our weekend was too short. after lunch we were homeward bound.

i love family.

i love summer.

i love water.

definitely an amazing combination.