Time with the Millers at Bear Lake

We finally made it on a camping trip with our good friends, the Millers, our old college friends/  We picked a location which was in the middle for us both, and Bear Lake it was!  We camped on the Idaho side for the first time in my life.  On average, I've been about once a year during my lifetime and I've camped/stayed on the other 3 sides, but never the North.  It was a good choice too, because as we drove through the south and west sides where we normally go, there wasn't much beach.  But the North side had tons of sand, wahoo!  Covey kept pointing to the lake and saying "puddle" and we'd tell him that it was like a big puddle called a lake, but he insisted it was a "puddle".  Bear Puddle!  Also, Cov was very disappointing that we weren't going to Randy's house (he loves his Uncle Randy!).  When we got out, he kept looking around and saying "No, Randy's house!"

When we got to Bear Lake North, we exchanged hugs and greetings.  It was so good to see D & Calena again! Miss her, though we keep in touch pretty well with our textersations.  And then the kids got playing and the adults got cooking.  We ate taco salad in a bag and cherries & grapes (I love summer fruit!) over jokes the kids came up with.  Our kids had a blast together.  It's so fun they all have a friend that is their age.  I love how our kids, especially Emma and Tavin, pick right back up like they've never been apart.  Their conversations are so fun to eaves drop on.  Tavin still carries his Curious George stuffed animal Emma gave him for probably his 2nd or 3rd birthday around everywhere.  So cute!  Alec & Cal had fun, too.  They were putting their pillows in their tummies and sumo wrestling it.  Lucy and Kaleb were two little peas in a pod.  Lucy kept forgetting his name but would call him "my friend".  Covey and Declan enjoyed chasing each other around in the tent.  We set up camp the rest of the way and then we had a water fight.  Since 3 of the four of their boys have autism (by the way, Calena is such an amazing mom!  I bow down to her greateness!  Dennis is great with them, too), they were able to bring an aide along with them to help out.  She was so fun and it was nice to have her along!

It was a hot night, but of course we still need a fire.  Leave it to Dave & Dennis for that!  We roasted s'mores and checked out the night sky.  Tavin kept asking Emma if she'd sleep with him.  He said she could trade places with one of his brothers so she could be next to him.  When they were young, they used to nap together all of the time, but I think they're getting a little too old for that now.  And the way he said it was funny.  "Melanie, could Emma sleep with me?"  We promised them they'd be together all the next day so they should probably just sleep where they were already set up to sleep.

 

Saturday morning, we woke up early, thanks to Cov.  We tried to keep him quiet, but he woke everyone up.  We had breakfast burritos, got ready, and then packed up our camp site.  We tried to go to Minnetonka cave, but it would be a three hour wait, so we just went to the North Beach, which was crowded, but fun!  We applied sunscreen, swam, threw sand, buried people in sand (we transformed Cal into the Hulk), applied more sunscreen, made castles, made a little lake just for Cov. got sun tans burns, applied even more sunscreen, ate a fun lunch, covered ourselves in mud, and felt the sand between our toes.  I love that feeling!  It was such a great day!  On our way out, we had to get a raspberry shake, naturally.  I got a raspberry cheesecake, so that occupied my time on the way home along with some great reading material.  Our kids all crashed, even Emma!

Super fun time!  Thanks, friends!  Let's do it again soon!