We kicked off the summer with a Memorial Day camping trip with our "framily" (friends who are family). We went to a state park in the southern part of the state for 4 days/3 nights and had such a good time--the Sunday in particular was AMAZING and so relaxing!!! We all just sat in a circle with our camping chairs and listened to the Zoom broadcast from our ward and man, so peaceful and great to be able to focus on the message and not on all of the logistics (it was a lot of work setting stuff up to run without us but gosh it was worth it).
We all drove down Friday night and set up camp--it was super wet and muddy after a week of downpours but thankfully did not rain again while we were there. That morning I ran a half-marathon by myself and kicked off a week of way too much running that resulted in the stress fracture I am currently rehabbing. I literally ran 3x the miles my plan wanted me to run because like an idiot I was just soooo excited about good weather and more running time than I usually had and way overdid it on miles AND hills AND pace.
On Saturday morning I got up early and ran 5.4 miles pretty hard & fast all around the very hilly state park where we were camping.
It was a beautiful run but my legs did not feel great (this was the day after the half-marathon). Then we hiked 6 miles with all of our kids + everyone else's teenagers.
I'll be honest, this was definitely a hike that was about the journey rather than the destination! It was pretty boring and there were exactly zero good views (just muddy woods the.whole.entire.hike) but our kids LOVED hanging out with their friends and had a great time.
Pretty fun crew and I loved listening to their conversations.
Matty and Nathan came with us because we wanted them to get more hiking training in before our summer hikes started, but in hindsight we really should have just let them go on the little kid walk and playing at the nature center; everyone would have been happier!
Oh man I was so tired by this part at the end! Our tent was on a really steep slope (the only flat place on our campsite was just a giant puddle) and I was so achy all weekend from clenching my muscles as I slept so I wouldn't roll downhill. I remember my hip flexors were DYING by the end of Saturday night and I had to load up with ibuprofen before I went to bed.
When we asked our kids what their favorite part of the weekend was, most of them said it was when our friend Aaron (or "Uncle Aaron" as my teenagers have him in their phones) loaded like 20 kids up in his minivan and drove them all the half-mile to the teeny little general store and let everyone pick out a treat.
Definitely no shortage of treats, haha!
I think maybe this was Sunday night...such a nice day. I went for a walk in the morning by myself before everyone else was up and then we legit just sat around all day talking and playing games and listening to church. I actually remember to grab a picture at one point of Aaron, Melissa, Brandi, and Steph (and Isaac of course because his favorite thing is listening in on adult conversations).
Then Neil and I went for another walk in the evening while we were waiting for Dutch ovens.
I seriously love our friends so so much and this was the most mentally relaxing weekend to just hang out with them and not worry about anything. And our kids LOVED the chill slow-paced vibe; they were just playing football and frisbee and riding bikes around the campsite loop and having the best time. EXCEPT a child who shall remain nameless ate way too much junk food and woke us all up at 1: 30 am by throwing up in their sleeping bag, which was not fun.
Hot chocolate & hash browns are such a winner combo, I think.
Andy and Steph making breakfast
Neil taking a Sunday afternoon nap
And a picture Melissa took of Matty falling asleep in my arms on the last night. This is the point when everyone had their phones out on the family tree app doing that thing where you can see who you're related to near you...our kids were ECSTATIC to see that we are all cousins (I think the closest relationship was like fifth cousins or something, but they did not care) and now refer to each other as "cousin" when they see each other. And honestly, I love it. Sometimes it's hard living so far from family and seeing all the time that our extended families spend together and all of the little daily moments we miss out on, so I am SO grateful for these friends who really are family, and support us through everything and are in and out of our daily lives in so many ways. Lots of people ask us why we don't live somewhere more mountainous since that's where we spend all our vacation time, and there are a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is that it would be SO hard to replace the friendships and relationships we have here.
Perfect weather--warm during the day, chilly in the evenings.
On Monday morning I got up early again and ran 6.3 around the park. My right calf was so painful and so tight that I had to stop after a mile to stretch it, but then I KEPT GOING (welcome, stress fracture, I'm doing all the things to bring you on) over some major hills. And I saw tons of deer!
Then I came back, showered, and made a bunch of woodland friends pancakes. My inventiveness ran out after five or six but here are the squirrel (with its nut)
And the floppy-eared bunny.
I don't remember which day this was, but Matty totally tucked himself up for an afternoon hammock nap while we made dinner! Probably Saturday based on the shirt.
Lots and lots of s'mores were consumed!
Teens hanging out chatting...
Hot chocolate & hash browns are such a winner combo, I think.
Andy and Steph making breakfast
Neil taking a Sunday afternoon nap
And a picture Melissa took of Matty falling asleep in my arms on the last night. This is the point when everyone had their phones out on the family tree app doing that thing where you can see who you're related to near you...our kids were ECSTATIC to see that we are all cousins (I think the closest relationship was like fifth cousins or something, but they did not care) and now refer to each other as "cousin" when they see each other. And honestly, I love it. Sometimes it's hard living so far from family and seeing all the time that our extended families spend together and all of the little daily moments we miss out on, so I am SO grateful for these friends who really are family, and support us through everything and are in and out of our daily lives in so many ways. Lots of people ask us why we don't live somewhere more mountainous since that's where we spend all our vacation time, and there are a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is that it would be SO hard to replace the friendships and relationships we have here.
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