Boys Will Be Boys

Merrick still thinks his chair makes a great bed!

• @Crazy8 so excited to hear about the Washington Square location in OR!!! in reply to Crazy8 #
• Hoping family pics tomorrow go well… #

• trying to motivated to get a new blog post written, get some stuff up for ebay/craigslist and maybe get my house clean? #
• why do some people only talk to you when they want something? #
• Reading various blogs about sick kids really brings up the memory of Bugz accident..I'm not sure I'll ever be OK from that, lose the guilt #
• praying for Preslee's family on their loss, what a sad week http://is.gd/duWjo #

I read quite a few blogs, belong to a few parenting communities online and one of the hardest things to read are postings about sick children.  Today a mom on one of those communities lost her very young son to neuroblastoma.  She is a strong and brave mom that has been sharing updates with us on his condition over the last few months, after she suddenly learned that his time with her would be cut short.  To read something like that was heartbreaking, tears filled my eyes and I looked at Patrick.  I told him that I couldn’t imagine that pain and heartache she was feeling, how quickly things can change and how I feel so blessed to have our family healthy and happy.   While reading the news this morning I just sat there feeling empty, with tears, wondering how someone can get through that?  You want to be post something supportive and caring but you are hurting so much for them, even if you do not know the person across the country very well, beyond a computer screen and some words.

There are so many venues for us to read about these tragedies now with the online blogs & communities.  I find it incredibly hard being a mother myself to read them.  I look at my kids and despite the chaos in my house & the things that they do that drive me nuts, it makes me just love them more.  It’s reading about how a woman has been so brave and strong for her son as he is fighting a losing battle, being strong for her other son and the rest of her family that is also losing a family member, that makes me once again realize that life is so precious.

Hug your family close, smother them in kisses and thank God for his blessings.  Keep your thoughts and prayers with this family and all those families that are going through some really tough times.

Sometimes I think I could live off in the woods along a river or lake.  Then I realize that I would eventually need to come back into reality and the technology world because the inner geek in me can’t be away from it too long.    We took the boys camping last week and I wasn’t sure any of us wanted to come back to reality.  That meant work for both Patrick and I, daycare for the boys and schedules!  Ugg!  It’s still summer though at least and our weather is somewhat cooperating now.

Back in May my family came out for Memorial Day weekend.  I drove them over to the coast to do some shopping and then we did some scenic driving along the coastal highway.  Well, once we got to Newport, we decided it was time to head home after our very long day.  My dad was on his new phone all mapping out our route.  I thought we should just drive back up the coast and go the way I was familiar with.  He thought we should go this other way inland from Newport.  Well, we took a turn too early and ended up on Hwy. 229.  It got us a bit lost and confused but I figured we’d end up in an ok spot eventually.  The road followed a beautiful river and was tucked back in the coastal mountains.  I told my parents that day, as we are lost and laughing about it, that I would love to camp back there somewhere.

While plotting a camping trip I looked up campgrounds along Hwy 229 and found Moonshine Park in Lincoln County tucked along the Siletz River.  We found a winner of a campground though!  The camp host is incredibly nice, the campground is well maintained and has bathrooms.  They just got showers 2 weeks ago (we forgot quarters so couldn’t use them but we know for next time!).  They have a nice looped road around the campground and a shoulder for kids to bike / people to walk along.  I loved how our site was close enough to the river but far enough that the boys weren’t running to it.  I can’t say enough good things about this place, truly a hidden gem but the host told us it gets full fast now a days so we’ll have to get there early next time too.

**all pictures are thumbnails, click for bigger, sorry for being so tiny, will fix later!**

We left Wed. morning and got there shortly after lunch.  We pulled in and found a nice spot under a big tree.  Can we say Shade is good?   I thought it’d be a lot harder getting camp set up with the boys running wild but they stayed fairly close, trying to help and getting into the camping stuff.  We got the tent up in a nice shady spot and then proceeded to settle in before exploring a bit. It was a very warm afternoon so we got the boys in their swim suits and headed to the river after scoping out a few swim spots.

A typical day camping was like this:
Bugz wake up around 6, get breakfast going and then head off to the fishing spot.  We’d sometimes fish until 9-10, depending on when we got over to it and how long Bugz could last throwing rocks into the river.  We’d head back to the campsite and then get some snacks, change into our swimsuits and head over to the waterfall area for a morning paddle in the boat.  We’d take turns taking the boys out in the boat, paddling them around.   Bugz would start giving us that glazed over tired look in the boat or he’d be on shore turning into monster Bugz, which meant time for us to head back for naptime.

While Bugz was napping Braysen and Patrick would head out for their father-son fishing time.  They went to a different spot at lunch than in the morning that had a better fishing area for Braysen.  It wasn’t a good spot for Merrick and I to go though as it was harder to get into.  When they came back, we’d get some lunch going, hang out a bit and then head back for our afternoon swim.  We went between the waterfall and another swimming hole spot because it kept the boys happy and they each were nice for different reasons.  I like to paddle around the waterfall but the other swimming hole has a nicer gradual slope for the boys to play in and it’s where more of the younger kids that are camping there play also.  Before dinner we’d head to the little rinky dink in the middle of nowhere store for ice and to get the boys out for a drive.  Dinner time and getting a campfire ready for S’mores came and went then it was bedtime, which Merrick fought us on every nite until 9ish, one night 10!! While I was getting Merrick down for bed, Braysen and Patrick would usually go do their nightly fishing run.  Some nights they’d get back and I’d have Bugz asleep so the 3 of us did S’mores, other nights I was still fighting him.    The boys got in a groove and it was a lot of fun, they stopped running so far away and stayed closer to camp, knowing where they could go and what not to do….for the most part! haha

Highlights Reel:

Patrick flipped the little boat going down the rapids the first time he took Braysen.  He told Braysen that if they fell out, to just back float and daddy would get him.  Sure enough, they flipped and Braysen did just that, as he is floating, he asks Patrick, “I’m backfloating daddy, are you going to get me?”  Patrick got scraped up pretty good on his legs from the rocks while getting Braysen and the raft. He lost an oar and his hat though!  Luckily, our neighbors found the oar and I found the hat later that day at the swimming hole.  He got quite the rep. for being the guy that flipped that day.  To his credit, our little raft is not meant for much of anything but floating hehe.  Although, there were people taking inner tubes, blown up air mattresses and random other weird things down the rapids.

Braysen caught 3 fish on his own!! We were all pretty excited for that and if you ask him, he’ll tell you, “I caught 3 fish and the last one was bweeding (bleeding).  We put him back in the water because it makes him feel better.  Poor Fishy.”    Among other funny lines of commentary on his fishing adventures that I can’t remember atm.   We cooked up one of the fish Patrick caught and even Braysen liked the taste of his first pan fried fish.

I learned that you can make all sorts of games out of throwing rocks or playing with rocks after spending hours on the banks of the river with Bugz entertaining him with rocks, shovels, buckets and water.  hehe

We’ll be going back there in August, which can’t come fast enough!  It was so nice to be away from phones, work, TVs, drama and other distractions.  Just good ol’ family time, just like I remember spending with my family camping.  The only thing it was really missing is family and friends with us but maybe someday.

All of the flickr camping pictures can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mymindslost/sets/72157624355474569/detail/