Leavenworth Camping Trip Part 1

Our annual camping trip with friends and family this year was our longest yet - we stayed for ten days and even that didn't seem long enough. We started our trip with this super long list of things we wanted to see, do, try, explore, find and enjoy... we hit only a few of those items making time to just enjoy camp as well. We came to the realization that the particular camp site we stayed at wasn't just a camp site but rather a base for the area we really wanted to enjoy.

We stayed at Tumwater Campground just outside of Leavenworth. This was a great campground that we would enjoy again. The campground is huge offering sites both for a quick night over and enjoyment on the river. We did luck out and enjoy the river all week while camping, which was really nice as the weather was hot... some days reaching close to one-hundred. Being in the mountains and near water helped to keep the warmth reasonable.

While camping we enjoyed many outings on hikes and to town. One walk was to an alpine lake called Hidden Lake, just above Lake Wenatchee. The walk was just under a mile, perfect for kids. The lake was beautiful!!! We hiked up and enjoy some refreshing water play.

Happy Birthday!!!

Holly turned seven years old this week... seven!!! My how the time has flown! She had a wonderful birthday celebration this past weekend at a local park. Holly wanted a Nature Party - so nature we did... park, forest play, stream play, sunshine -- really you couldn't beat how the day went the kids all had a great time! They played for several hours!

Denny Creek Camping Trip

Last week we enjoyed a ten day camping trip out at Denny Creek in the Snoqualmie area. This was our first time at this campground. It was a lovely little campground, however you can hear the road noise from I-90 - a bit too much for us. The area is beautiful and offers so, so many opportunities for outdoor fun & hiking! We enjoyed several hikes throughout the week - Franklin Falls, Denny Creek Water Slides, Wagon Trail Hike, Lake Talapus & Lake Ollalie and then Bryan and the kids enjoyed the Iron Horse Snoqualmie Train Tunnel and hike. Over all about 18 miles of hiking happend this past week.... AWESOME!!!

As well we enjoyed wonderful company camping, a ton of play with friends, river play, forest service roads, general camping goodness like star gazing, great foods and campfire endings to the day. The weather was amazing all week long offering us nothing but pure sunshine, how lucky we were!

There are just TOO MANY photos to share, so I selected just a few to share of our trip... I had over 200 photos, and that is light for me! Enjoy!!!



Getting ready for our first hike to Franklin Falls.



River along trail to Franklin Falls.

River along hike.

Mini-waterslide.

Pierce Family in front of Franklin Falls.

Hudson exploring at Denny Creek Waterslides.

Denny Creek Waterslides.

Fajitas -- the best camp dinner ever!!!

Corn bread pudding went great with fajitas! Yummy!

River along campground.

Heading out to place their first ever geo cache, so fun!

Holly enjoying daisies at Snoqualmie Pass.

Hudson too!

Snoqualmie Train Tunnel - start of a 6 mile hike.

The tunnel is DARK - 2 miles of darkness! Wow!

Heading out on a 6 mile hike to some alpine lakes!

On the trail...

Beautiful area!

In front of a small falls along hike!

Aren't they the cutest!!! Love them!

Talupus Lake - 2 mile mark.

Talupus Lake.

Ollalie Lake - 3 mile mark.

Stampede Pass drive.

My Little Two Wheeler!!!

The day has finally come... Holly is on two wheels, no trainers! She had tried a couple of her friends little bikes and could do it. So, we finally got her onto a good learning bike that is not as large as her fancy new bike she got for Christmas. She got on and took off today!!! My little gal is growing up! She has been riding all night and I mean all night! So proud of her!!!

Summer Fun

Holly and Hudson enjoyed some wonderful park play today before meeting up with friends. They were the only two on the entire playground for a while... it was really nice. Holly help Hudson with the slide a few times and then he got the whole system down himself. A great day for the park!