Farewell Summer! Camp Creek, Mt. Hood.

Be careful what you wish for! All summer we complained about the heat. You could even hear a collective cheer in Portland last week when we finally got some rain. It was needed, it was appreciated, but, it wasn’t supposed to KEEP raining…through Labor Day weekend! Especially when our kids were coming up to join us….in tents!

Our campsite Friday night…not too bad, yet…

No worries. The weather forecast called for a small shower chance on Friday night. Our plan was to head up the mountain before the kids arrived on Saturday and get things set up. Then they’d join us for a weekend of campfires and card games. We were okay with a little rain Friday night. We had a fun weekend to look forward to! I had been collecting camping books for Molly and had quite a collection put together for her! I couldn’t wait to wrap her in a blanket and read stories by candle light.

I’ve been working on a nice little collection of books to store under the bed!

The books were a hit with this almost two year old!

What a great little camping buddy!

Papa showing Molly around on of our favorite places!

Our son and his girlfriend joined us for the weekend, too.

Cuddled under a blanket waiting for the rain to pass.

“Cozy” inside for coffee with six of us and a baby (and a dog 🙂 ). Would have never attempted this in the Bambi!

Molly and Tio

Saturday morning rolled around and it was still raining. What!? It was cold, it was foggy, it was typical Oregon (and after a California summer, we had apparently forgotten what Oregon could really be like). The kids arrived in a light mist, set up, and we sat around the campfire all day, staying warm and somewhat dry. We celebrated my birthday with beautiful cupcakes Lindsey made and ate warm soup and cheese bread. We sang songs, read books and chased after Molly well into the night. I really appreciated the time we had together, and the dampness didn’t get us down.

Lindsey made wonderful cupcakes for my birthday!

By Sunday, the light rain changed to steady rain, and by 3:00, one tent had collapsed (Scott got that tent on his 8th birthday, which is a pretty good run for a tent I suppose), all the sleeping bags and camping gear were drenched, and with our help, the kids packed up and headed back down the mountain.

The tent site was beautiful located right on the creek. Sad to throw the tent away…lots of great memories over the years as you can see in the next photo when the tent was brand new!

A gift from his grandparents when he was in the second grade!

Two little boys spent a lot of summers camping out in our backyard in this tent.

We were sad to cut our little trip short by a day. It was the end of summer for us. Tuesday morning I head back to school to 27 eager fourth graders, and Scott will soon head back to school to begin his junior year at OSU. I really can’t think of a better way to say farewell to summer. Time spent with our family, even just one day, is a special gift, indeed!

Look at this, Monday morning, time to leave and not a cloud in the sky! This is what makes this place so beautiful!.

Goodbye until next year Camp Creek