camping and north cascades weekend

last september thatcher took azalea to the olympic peninsula on a camping trip and he's been talking about taking the whole family ever since. i'll admit i took a little convincing. i camped a lot as a kid, but haven't camped much since i was a teenager and don't exactly love the idea of sleeping on the ground surrounded by nothing but canvas, far away from a bathroom, etc. ;) but i was open to it. thatcher reserved a campsite for us and then there was no turning back. ha! 

so.much.gear.

he worked a half day on friday and then we took off for lake wenatchee state park. it's a little over 2 hours from seattle but we made good time. 

the kids loved helping set up the tent.

the campsite was really crowded, but it was a beautiful spot and thankfully it didn't feel like our neighbors were right on top of us. 

the kids got these "junior ranger" workbooks that kept them so busy. it was great! 

after we got every thing set up, we walked down to lake wenatchee. it was a hot afternoon (87 degrees) and super windy. 

then we headed back to the campsite to get our fire going to cook dinner. hotdogs and corn on the cob, along with chips and grapes. the kids had a blast. 

she loved that she could eat corn on the cob now that her braces are off! 

we also made smores, which were delicious. i'll admit that over night was my least favorite part. i did not sleep well at all, but at least it was only for one night. in the morning, we made pancakes and bacon on the camping stove. i took the kids to the playground while thatcher took down our tent. we were only there for less than 20 hours, but i'm calling our first family of 4 camping trip a success ;) 

but there was still more fun to be had! we booked a night at a lodge in mazama, washington for our second night of our getaway. yay real beds! our first stop of the day was the wenatchee river, where we walked across that (former) pipe bridge. 

then we drove to leavenworth to get coffee and a treat, but it was so crowded there we could find any parking, so the kids and i got stuff to go while thatcher drove around and then picked us up. we went a little way out of town and stopped at a fruit stand and enjoyed our treats. 

then we drove to the town of wenatchee and had lunch at a brew pub in the downtown. our next stop was the town of winthrop.

ashford fell asleep in the car and had to be carried for a while. but he happily woke up when we told him we were going to play mini golf ;) 

thatcher took the kids when we were in minneapolis and they were thrilled to get to do it again so soon! after mini golf, we had pizza for dinner in winthrop. then we drove the rest of the way to the mazama country inn. 

thatcher and the kids went in the pool for a few minutes but it wasn't heated so they didn't last long. 

there was also a benefit going on at the lodge grounds with a live band. we spent some time listening to the band because there wasn't much else around there. it was a pretty big event! 

sunday morning we all slept in until 7:30 which hasn't happened in forever and then had breakfast at the lodge restaurant. then we packed up and headed out to drive route 20 through the north cascades. thatcher told us it's his favorite part of the state (he's done some hikes up there) and he was excited to show it to us. and it did not disappoint! our first stop of the day was washington pass where we parked and walked a short ways to the look out area. 

the view was amazing. next we drove to a trailhead to walk 1 mile round trip to rainy lake. 

our next stop was the diablo lake vista point for a picnic lunch. it was the most gorgeous lake i have ever seen! the color of the water was unreal. 

our final stop before driving back to seattle was cascadian farms for ice cream. it's a very popular place to stop and we waited a really long time in the ice cream line, but there isn't much that can keep me from ice cream ;) the raspberry chocolate chip was delicious. 

we got back to seattle around dinner time and were all tired from a fun weekend. this week brings morning camps for both kids and the final walk through for our old apartment.