Fishermen's Bend Family Reunion

We had so much fun on our Wilcox family reunion camping trip, well, at least after the first night, the first night was rough. It was Miles first camping trip so maybe that had something to do with it. Friday afternoon, we met at Max's work and ate dinner there while we waited for traffic to die down. We then head out of town to Fishermen's Bend near Detroit Lake to join my mom's side of the family for a camping trip. We got there just in time to set up camp and make a s'more before the sun went down. Charlie lost his glasses in the field just as it was getting too dark to see where they were lost. Luckily we found them with the help of these 2 detectives...and our trusty flashlights..

 After the Boys were asleep, Max and I stayed up for awhile playing games, when it was late we went into the tent and that's when it became tough. Miles woke up and would not fall back asleep in his bed so he ended up in our bed, not really allowing us to sleep, Charlie woke up a short time later to go pee and then wanted to get in our bed. I'm not sure if we slept at all. It was a long night. Eventually, when Breakfast was ready, I took the boys to breakfast while Max was able to get a little more sleep. That ended up being a little dramatic (and funny) with Charlie spilling hot chocolate all over Grandma Sharolee. Both boys were tired and grumpy.

 After breakfast, I took Max a plate of food and left Miles in the tent with Max so Charlie and I could go to the bathroom and brush our teeth then play on the playground.

FYI, he didn't pee himself....it's just dew

We then decided it was way too hot to be wearing pants so we went back to the tent to change clothes and get Miles. We walked in to this! Max had kept sleeping and Miles roamed the tent until he got tired then just fell asleep. It scared Max for a minute because he couldn't see him, he had wondered if I had come to take him but thought that couldn't have happened. He climbed out of bed and found him here. I'm pretty grateful for this kids sleeping abilities...(except for the night prior.)

With Miles sleeping and Charlie riding bikes close by we decided to join in a card game. A classic Wilcox activity! 

It wasn't long before Miles woke up in the hot tent so Max took the boys and I could continue to play games.

After games, it was lunch time. Lexi and Charlie had fun together!

While eating lunch, one of the park rangers came by and said they would be making hummingbird feeders at another location in the camp and all kids are invited. That sounded like a fun thing to check out.

Charlie killed some time by checking on his uncles!

When it was getting close to hummingbird time we loaded up the bike trailer and this is what the kids looked like! They were so tired and grumpy. But they got happy once we started riding!

It was so hot so we took a break at the drinknig fountain and I ended up taking a bunch of photos that I really like!

And then there was this moment when Miles climbed under Charlie's feet, Max was about to save Miles but I made him stop so I could take a picture. Brotherhood!

We eventually made it over to learn all about hummingbirds and make our humming bird feeders. My boys were still pretty grumpy but Lexi posed for me.

After the hummingbird feeders, we made our way over to the swimming hole, Usually we go swimming at Detroit Lake but since it's been so hot this year, The water level was so low that there was no swimming area. Luckily, this grump took a nap on the ride!

 He loved the cool water!

 Then there was a little splashing party

 and Charlie finally woke up and joined, we has still pretty groggy and looked like a little drunk child walking on the rocks.

After getting good and wet, we rode back to the campsite. There was a lot of playing in the dirt. My boys loved this!

Then Miles fell asleep again! I seriously think camping is great for wearing a kid out and getting them to sleep in any situation!

After dinner, it was time for a big waterfight!

My little family started a big squirt gun fight. It was so fun, running around like crazy and soaking eachother. Everyone was happy and no one was freaking out that they were getting wet. I think we need to do this more!

Then Lexi joined us!

And Aaron joined in too.

Pretty soon, Timmy joined too and I left with Miles because he was done. Max was having so much fun and confessed that the little boy was coming out of him! I love it! But then there was still more time to play so Charlie built himself this thrown. 

And then Charlie pulled his little brother around!

 Racing brothers!

But then it was really bedtime. I think Charlie got one s'more then we put the boys to bed. They went to sleep much easier. We showered, made doughies and played games. It was a fun night with other adults.

The boys slept much better on the second night which made everyone happier.
After breakfast, we decided that we wanted to go explore Detroit lake because the water was so low that we could walk to the island in the middle of the lake!

This should all be under water!

 After quite a bit of toddler complaining, we made it to the island.
Cousins with our babies!

On the way back, Charlie whined enough that he got offered a ride in the wagon. He was lucky enough to get carried down the hill.

And once again, Miles falls asleep when we least expect it...in the middle of a hike!

We got back to camp, ate some lunch then ventured back to the water hole to cool off. we rode our bikes again, this time in our swimsuits. It felt so good to be out in the warm weather in our suits with our whole family together with the boys contained, that Max said "let's just take a moment to appreciate how perfect this moment is right now!" It really just felt so good to be on vacation together and doing something active in perfect weather! Such a good memory. Anyway, we got to the water and enjoyed that it wasn't nearly as busy!

We remembered our floaties this time too!

I liked floating with Miles, he just sat still admiring the leaf he had in his hand!

When we were done in the swimming hole we rode our bikes back and enjoyed every moment of that as well. But we were still ready to have more family fun. We decided to take our boys to play volleyball. Max and I had a lot of fun. Charlie got a little bored when we weren't passing the ball to him and Miles begged for the ball the whole time.

Max gave Charlie some volleyball lessons!

We decided that we needed to go back and start thinking about taking down camp.
Max was able to watch the boys and make apple pie doughies while I packed up and took down our tent. We made it a slow process because we weren't that excited to leave.

We ate some tin foil dinners.
Shortly before we left, my cousin Kim came who lives in Maryland but has been venturing across the United States to visit all her family. She had just got into Oregon from Idaho and she jumped into her dad's car and came to the campsite.  WE were excited to see her and her little Chloe.

After our adorable photos, we finished loading up our car, getting our boys in their PJs, brushing teeth, then said our final goodbyes and left.  My boys love camping and it was so much fun, especially after the first night) to watch them explore and get dirty and freely play with all their cousins (second cousins) I guess we'll just have to do a lot more camping in the future.

And hooray for us, Aunt Val was able to book the same wonderful campsite for us next year.