Butterfly Lake

Every time these pictures come up on my screensaver, Caden says, "I can't look--it makes me too sad."  I think Butterfly Lake is what my heaven will look like.

Our camping trip started out like many of my childhood camp outs--with a 3 hour discussion on which site to choose.  Once we got settled, it was straight to the lake where we spent most of out time.  

Tessa fell asleep at 10:30 in the car on the way there, so instead of her usual 3 hour nap, she took a short 45 minute snooze.  It actually worked out to our benefit, though, because she was so tired that night she went right to sleep.  The boys spent the first night sleeping on the same bed.  In the morning Bryce complained that Caden was rolling down onto him all night, while Caden accused Bryce of pushing him away all night.  

One morning there was a moose and her calf feeding at the lake.  We watched them walk all the way around.  It was pretty amazing.

We spent a lot of time at the lake fishing.  The kids all kept busy in their own ways.  Tessa played in the dirt like it was a sandbox.  She loves dirt and was pretty content.

Bryce spent his time looking for "treasures" in the dirt.  Grandpa makes the kids feel good by getting pretty excited about anything they come up with...extra line, bubbles, or even a spinner that Bryce found in Grandpa's tackle box.

When Bryce felt that he hadn't had enough chances to reel in fish:

And Caden spent his time developing a new talent--casting!  There were many tangles in the trees and seaweed but he eventually got good enough to do it on his own.

We loved rafting all on the lake.  I rowed myself out to the middle one time and just laid there in the sun.  Ahhh...

The lake was small enough we felt OK letting Caden out on his own in a raft.  He did awesome going all over the lake.

Other fun pictures:

Seriously--who needs to go any further than Butterfly Lake for a dream vacation?