Camping at Flowing Lake

We’ve started what I hope will be a yearly tradition of having a camping trip with my immediate family. Last year we stayed at the yurts at River Meadow Park in Arlington. I filled out a survey card and ended up winning a free night at any of the parks! So this year we decided to stay at the cabins at Flowing Lake in Snohomish. Its kinda weird to camp so close to your own home, but it definitely has its perks. Definitely.

There were 4 cabins and we rented all of them. At first J and I thought we’d want the one with the deck, but once we got there, we saw that Cabin 2 was better suited for the kids. Lots of flat pavement for them to ride their bikes on!

Ethan being a wonderful watchman over his little sister. And her not appreciating it too much.

A really neat Eagle Scout project at the lake. Free lifejackets that you can rent. You just fill out a little form, use the jacket, then return when you’re done.

   

We found this little bubbling spot on the edge of the lake and I was convinced it was a spring of some kind. Later I found out it was a pipe with water run off. Totally not as exciting.

Our wonderful puppy-dog Toby, who behaved very well and had a blast swimming.

Elsa showing me her flower

 

And throwing a fit not 5 minutes later. The life of a 2 year old is fraught with such mood swings!

Making dinner the first night. My Mom brought all the fixings for marinated kebabs and everyone got to make their own.

 

Becki brought a magazine that had pictures of conception-birth and she read to all the kids. They really enjoyed it.

The early morning crew hiding out under the shelters. This would end up the only non-rainy day of the trip!

  

Michael and Jenni provided breakfast the first day. It was great!

Heading out to fish

The kids ended up with the most luck of anyone. They both caught a couple fish.

 

I love Ethan’s face.

My one and only and bestest bro.

Michelle and Peter provided us with lunch, but we all forgot to bring a knife. Somehow, she conquered this watermelon with a plastic knife! Go Shelly!

Gwen showing off her bike skills. Earlier in the day she had a scary incident where she panicked and went down a hill with no brakes and crashed. I have to say it was kinda funny after the fear wore off. She actually looked a lot like this picture. She just freaked out and wouldn’t put her feet on the pedals and use the brakes. Luckily, she got right back on and tried again :)

 

We went fishing again and Gwen caught this tiny fish. Much smaller than her other catches, which had not scared her at all. This tiny little fish did though!

 

Elsa, very tired, very dirty, ready for bed.

I ended up catching a catfish, but again, because none of us brought a knife, we couldn’t gut it and eat it! Bummer. But it really cracked us up because Ethan kept insisting that there were catfish in the lake and we were like, “No, not here. We’ve never heard that” and yet I ended up catching one!

All and all we had a wonderful time! Its so nice to get to spend devoted time with your siblings. We are so blessed to have a family that really enjoys spending time together.