Friday, June 24, 2011

Lake Chelan

We have been camping at Lake Chelan on our annual "school is out" camping trip. After weeks of drizzle and a slow start to spring, let alone summer, we are out of the rain and into the Easter Washington sunshine. There are 5 families camping together and another arriving this weekend.  

This is easy camping.

The camp store is open till 10pm and sells everything from ice to lattes.  We have in-tent wireless and a large playground and a huge grassy field.   We are in the tent camp.  Across the field is the RV camp.   At night one plays a movie across the side of the RV as a big screen.  

We haven't used the iPad once.

We spent most of the day at the Slidewaters water park.  Wren was very bold and went down a few large slides sitting between my legs.  He even went on one of the Advanced ones with a 4 foot landing depth.  Unfortunately I stumbled on landing and went underwater but held up up overhead so he didn't get his face wet.

I had to bribe him with the promise of a booster pack of Magic cards to do the advanced one.   Afterwards, he said "It was so scarey that it took away my hiccups."

I didn't see Frost all day.  He alternated between sliding and sitting in the hot spa.  

I alternated between sliding with Wren and sitting by the fence consoling Beezle who, stationed with his crate and bed outside the fence, felt that he was being ostracized or punished and persisted in trying to claw his way in.  After 2 hours he gave up watching for me and went to sleep.

Beezle has been a great attraction.  He tries to bite little kids who try and stroke him so he needs to work on petting without biting.  Its not entirely his fault as we often play 'mouthing' games with him.  However, he needs lots of practice about not biting too hard.

Now, a wind has sprung up and its fully dark.  Wind is shushing in the trees and the fire, once dormant, has sprung into a blaze that is blowing smoke my way (of course).   Wren and Beezle are asleep and the bigger boys are silhouettes on the tent walls where they are reading Foxtrots by flashlight.

The only brightness is the bathroom block across the field from us.   Time to head there before bed.

Boys at the table.


Campfire.  S'mores.

Stephen making the fire for us.

Reading an Alex Cross thriller in the hammock.  "Is this our hammock?" asked
Wren.  Apparently he can't remember the last trip with it.

Slidewaters Base Camp.  See Beezle outside the fence.
We are in Lake Chelan on our annual "school is out" camping trip.  After weeks of drizzle and a slow start to spring, let alone summer, we are out of the rain and into the Easter Washington sunshine.

Wren eating a yogurt in Chelan.  Yogurt followed icecream which followed
chips.

Iced latte in Chelan heat.

Beezle became overtired from the anxiety of being "outside

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wonderful,happy blog, Shannon. I am packing for home leaving tomorrow night for Perth and then Adelaide. Lots of love MUM

tamusana said...

wow, this sounds like such a fabulous camping trip. (we bought a "family" tent last year (6-person... so big even David could stand up in it!), but thus far have only used it a couple of times in our garden. Most recent was last weekend. Lovely.

hey - we're going to be in Oregon (Portland, then Eugene) from august 3-13. Any chance you'd like to take a road trip??? I know, it's a silly thought. But.....

One day, we must figure out a way to do a joint family camping trip, either in WA, or here. Seriously.

By the way, Luca has been sailing in a couple of regattas (optimist). Still has a lot to learn esp. in terms of strategy (e.g., how to stay clear of other boats at the start line without being so far away that you're left behind), but having fun. And I've got to admit, I'd much rather be a sailing mom (spending sunny weekends by Lake Geneva) than a soccer mom. Now how to dissuade Kenji from his desire to play soccer this fall?