Camping episode 3

and the final trip for the year. whew!

This summer has been very interesting. We did no camping last year. This year we went all in. We’ve done Dorena over the 4th, Paulina Lake with the Cools and now SW Hills Family camp at Ft Stevens. All three in very different climates, all three with a different crowd, all three were very different for us because these were our first camping trips with Anna!

I was amazed this weekend by how far Anna has come since July. She was just toddling around at Dorena not used to walking on uneven surfaces and we made a wall of chairs to keep her from the fire. At Paulina lake she was walking better. Here at Fort Stevens, she must have walked 10 miles. She runs everywhere, and I think she only fell once or twice. She climbed on the playground equipment, she ran on the beach and over wet grass, she stomped in puddles and stomped on sand castles. Stomping (especially puddles) is definitely one of her favorite pastimes. She ran around and chased the big Swart kids. She climbed onto bikes and tricycles and a little John Deer tractor all by her self. If only she could reach the pedals! She even drove the van for a little bit, sitting on my lap. 🙂

Early in the summer we took Anna to the beach for a weekend. It was her third trip to the beach and the first time we let her get done in the sand. She wasn’t very thrilled and cried when we touched her toes to the ocean. But this trip we set her down in the sand, she went a few steps and then sat down, picking up huge hand fulls of sand and grinning. She let it out slowly and watched it blow away. Then she started crawling and laughing. She liked the feel of the soft sand so much that she got down on her belly and started “swimming” across the beach. 🙂 When we later coaxed her on the hard sand she ran straight for the water, stopped when she saw the wave coming towards her, and squealed as her toes got wet. She had a hard time standing up with the little waves washing around her feet and tended to fall down. She got very wet and cold but seemed to have a great time. Yah she likes the beach!

Anna was a star at family camp and was often greeted by name by people I had never met as we walked (Anna running) around the campground. And as per usual with our camping trips she could see a doggy a mile away and greeted each one, no matter how big and scruffy they might be, with her little girly “woof, woof!”

Anna playing in the water.

Anna playing in sand

Anna stomping

Anna crammed in and fast asleep on the way home:

Anna and Grandpa and Great-Grandpa at the Radke family reunion:

I don’t think she knows how to behave in a dress:

So I knew she was able to get onto the couch on her own when the vacuum is set in the right place…

But I was very surprised to find her here!: