Vacation #2 (DAYS 4 & 5)...

On Thursday we had a quiet morning while we prepared for another fun filled day.  Charlie filled himself on leftover pizza for breakfast...

...while Emily filled her time playing Angry Birds on Bryan's phone.  Before we left I got a quick picture of Emily's face from the night before.  She was playing catch and fell face first from the truck bed to the ground.  She was a trooper but she scared her momma to death...

The sun warmed the campground early so we took a bike ride to our favorite spot (we call it Tee Pee Beach).  Bryan and the boys played football on the beach while Emily began her search for secret treasures...

We attempted a few group pictures in their "trailer shirts" but as usual they were not in the mood...

Charlie is so determined to be a BIG lately.  He follows Jack around everywhere, replicating exactly what he does...

 I think Jack needed a little breather so he headed way down the beach by himself...

 Charlie and Emily built a sand castle together...

 And Bryan built them a new tee-pee...

 While we were eating lunch a bald eagle flew over head and landed in the tree behind us...

 

 When we got back to camp Emily decided to help Daddy out with the wood...

Later that evening things got BUSY.  One of my good friends from high school, Katie Henneberry, was camping a few lots down.  She brought her three kiddoes and her nieces and nephew over for some super fun crafting.  The kids LOVED playing together and it was so much fun to catch up.  We eventually made our way down to their camp site, visited a while and then we packed the kids up and headed to our very first drive in movie!  We have never even taken our kiddoes to the regular movie theater so this was a real treat.  The kids all fell asleep on the way but we woke up Emily just in time to watch BRAVE.

The next morning was a little hectic.  It was Charlie's real birthday! We blared Captain Zoom on the outdoor speakers as we packed up camp and then headed on home...

We were only home a few hours (just enough time to do a little laundry) so we celebrated with a mini ice cream cake...

Our first BIG camping trip proved to be a success!  We left that same evening and headed to our next destination...Grandma and Grandpa Jones' Country Club for Camp Run-a-Mucka!

Vacation #2: Deception Pass (DAY 3)...

Wednesday morning was the FOURTH of JULY and to say we had some excited kids would be an understatement.  They were up bright and early, dressed in red, white and blue and eager to head to the Anacortes parade...

 Emily LOVED the little dot stickers I applied to her face...

Uncle Mike arrived just in time to join us for the parade and as you can see from the pictures the kids were more than excited to see him...

 The parade was PACKED but we got a perfect front row seat right ...

 Emily literally clapped, cheered and bounced up and down for an entire hour...

After the parade we were HUNGRY so we headed over to Anthony's Homeport for an amazing lunch outside...

 Emily ordered strawberry cheesecake for dessert...

When we arrived back at camp Grandma Patti and Grandpa Jim joined us for a while and I decided to let the kids do some snakes in the fire pit and throw some Pop-Its since we couldn't light off real fireworks in the park... 

Unfortunately the Park Ranger showed up to inform us that Snakes and Pop-Its are REAL fireworks and illegal to use in State Parks. Ooooops! 

Emily spent a lot of time cuddling with Grandma, reading endlessly from the Magic Tree House...

By the evening the kids were exhausted so we gathered by the fire, snacked on chips and milk then made some delicious smores...

Charlie and Jack stole all of the chocolate and skipped on the crackers and marshmallows...

The kids lit up all of their Fourth of July glow sticks even though it was light outside and not too soon after they all fell asleep.  To Emily's (and her daddy's) disappointment we didn't get to see any fireworks go off but we promised a fun filled next day to help make things better...