Crawdads, knives, and Joe's Donuts!

We had an awesome camping trip this weekend at Timothy Lake, Hoodview Campground. Our campsite was amazing (#26) and was right on the lake. 

Lots of water time, looking for salamanders (no luck!), catching crawdads, swimming, and just enjoying the sunny and warm weekend.  We sure lucked out with the perfect weather!

 Dan and the boys went out in the lake for some swimming.  Dan taught them about skinny-dipping.   They call it "SDC" (skinny dipping club).  The boys thought that it was so racy and fun, even though they never fully took their drawers off, they pulled them down far enough to qualify. 

Fishing at dusk off of the dock.  Mt. Hood in the background. 

This trip was officially the beginning of a new camping tradition for trips that are in Mt. Hood National Forest.  As we approached Sandy, one of the boys remembered  Joe's Donuts from a trip last year.  We had to stop and get a dozen to take into the woods.  They ate a lot of donuts!!  We will never again be able to cruise past Joe's Donuts without stopping.

Big excitement this camping trip as the boys each earned their own real pocket knife and flint fire starter.  Overall, they did great with this new responsibility.  Chris earned his the first night, Nate had to wait until the 2nd day.   A rite of passage, for sure.  No blood or cuts, either.  Just a bunch of whittled sticks.  

 

 

 

 On Saturday, our friends the Wileys came and joined us at the campsite.  Mike brought a generator to run the blender, and Mary made special cocktails with spicy vodka and pureed watermelon.  They were tasty!

 On Saturday night, we had a craw fish boil from all of the little fellas that fell victim to our trap. 

We had quite the bounty!

Lots of fishing, but not a single catch. 

The Wiley's dog, Max, kept us safe and was lots of fun on the trip.  Oh, Max!