The camping trip

Yesterday we arrived back home after a happy four days spent camping with friends at Honeyman State Park in Florence, Oregon.

It's a GORGEOUS campground. And we had equally gorgeous weather, and it was all pretty much top-notch as far as fun and family shenanigans go. Games, swimming, biking, s'mores around the campfire, trips for ice cream, laughing till we cried, CHECK.

The only weird thing was that we were missing Cooper, who was off having fun at 5/6th grade kids camp up on Mt. Hood. Boy, did we miss him! Russ and I mentioned it at least once a day... it's just not the same without Cooper! Word on the street is that he had a pretty fantastic time though and got by juuuuust fine without us ;)

And now for some pictures!

^^My girl Valerie. We have about 3000 things in common (perhaps most importantly, our love of the game nerts and our deep aversion to unnecessary cleaning ;) We get along like a house on fire.^^

^^The clown car shot^^

^^This shot sums up the weekend pretty well^^

We only met Shawn and Valerie last Fall, when they coached Blake in soccer. Some people are just extra easy to become fast friends with though, and it wasn't long before Shawn and Russ were planning hunting trips together, we were getting together for meals, and next thing you know, we're camping together for four days and playing board games like "Spouse-ology" together (highly recommend).
There's nothing better than new friends that feel like old friends. 
(Except maybe reuniting with your 11-year-old after being apart for 4 days and then every single family member taking wiped-out naps when you're all home ;)