camping // mount hood

this was our third year carrying on the tradition of an annual camping trip with sam's family.  we've got it down to a pretty good system between our three families (sam's parents, sister's fam & us).  here's year one & year two.  this was the first year brooks got to join which added an extra level of chaos but we all had a blast.  kayaking, hiking, s'mores roasting, fishing, trail running, stars gazing, flashlight tagging & lots of yummy food eating.

can't wait to do it again next year.

camping part 2 // cape lookout

am i seriously going to just randomly throw down three new posts tonight after months of silence?  you bet i am.  what else do i have to do at midnight on a tuesday night?  work?  laundry?  sleep?  nah.  blogging sounds better.

our second camping trip of the summer was at the coast.  we'd never camped at the beach before & the experience got some mixed reviews.  we love camping & we love the beach, but i'm just not convinced i love camping at the beach.  but still, we had so much fun despite the sand in every tent crevice.

we camped at cape lookout & got poured on our first night which led to an early morning escape to oceanside for breakfast.  the hidden beach in oceanside was a huge highlight of the trip... it was gorgeous!  we felt like we were in ireland or iceland or somewhere way more exotic than the oregon coast.  also this was our first time taking brooks camping & i had some major anxiety leading up to that but he did great!  he was a little overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds & craziness of the campsite but he loved running on the beach & slept through the night in the tent so i can't complain.

oh yeah, i've never mentioned brooks on the blog.  i mean i assume if you're here reading this you also follow me on either instagram (@amy_nielson) or facebook or snapchat or something so it's not a total shock to you that we have a dog.  he'll probably get his own post at some point but today isn't that day.  for now, just know that we have an 8 month old german shorthaired pointer and he is CRAY.  and if you want to know more about him feel free to check him out on his own instgram here: @brooks_gsp.  yes he has more followers than i do, no i don't care.  moving on.

here are some pics from this last camping trip.  and now don't expect me to blog for a few months.  or maybe i'll post 5 more updates tomorrow, you just never know.

camping part 1 // timothy lake

we realized today that we've had six weeks of summer so far & still have exactly six weeks left.  it feels like we're just starting to get in our groove so of course it must be half over.  we've had beach trips, camping trips, kayaking adventures, summer camps & lots of lazy at home days too.

here are a few pics of our first camping trip up at timothy lake in the mt. hood national forest.  we loved this campground!  we kayaked the lake, fished & hiked.  not pictured but also there: nana, papa, auntie, jason & me.  making sure i capture everyone who was there (including myself) is a work in progress... whattyagonnado.

camping // the boys first time!

we were always pretty daring when it came to doing things when our boys were babies.  our kids have flown countless times, spent a crazy amount of hours in the car on road trips & they've spent more nights in hotels than i even know.  but one thing we were never brave enough to do with babies was go camping.  camping with a newborn?  nope.  with a crawler?  yeah freaking right.  even last summer when elliot was just shy of two years old it wasn't even on the table.

so this was our summer to break them in.

and it turns out they are at the perfect age to take camping.  they LOVED it.  they were giddy about their sleeping bags, they packed their own backpacks full of the things they wanted to bring & were just so excited about the whole idea of it all.  and thank goodness they are both old enough to understand the whole "take your shoes off in the tent & zip it up behind you" thing because my ocd self just doesn't do dirt & bugs in my sleeping bag.  but if i had a penny for every time i reminded them of that i would probably have a dollar.

we camped at oxbow regional park just outside of portland.  it's like twenty minutes from our house & sure your closest couple of camping neighbors are just a stone's throw away but it was just right for our first-timers.  it's right on the sandy river & has plenty of safe water-play river access.  there were lots of woods the boys could safely run through within eyesight of our camp & the wildlife were used to all the people so there were lots of deer sightings.

we had good company (sam's parents, sister & her husband), lots of good food (obviously a given when camping) and amazing weather.  we had so much fun that i've spent a good part of my day looking up tent trailers on craigslist so we could do this kinda thing twice as much with half the work.  hey west coast road trip, we're coming for ya!

so much fun.