Camping with the Leach family

The weekend of the 28th and 29th of July I spent relaxing in the sun, and Ru spent playing games on his dads computer.  Ru got home Sunday afternoon and we started packing for our camping trip.  I had borrowed moms truck (and washed it!) so I had plenty of room for all our gear.  We did a pretty laid back form of packing/watching movies, and eventually finished loading up late Monday morning.  We had all sorts of errands to run on the way but we made it to Baker Bay by 3pm, and to my surprise, we were a day early.

Rockin the fire pit with the log guitar.

Thankfully there were some nice spots available so we set up camp and took a swim.  Unfortunately the pump didn't work for the air mattresses but I did not hesitate to ask my neighbor for help. Not having the third person we needed for the boat, we just hung out at the campsite playing cards and relaxing till dinner fajitas and smores time came around.  We slept well on our puffy beds until the crow alarm went off around 8am.

Chris Leach (My cousin on my father's side) reserved two campsites for two nights starting  Tuesday.  After we got up we half packed and moved 7 spaces westward to our new camp home.  We took the smaller of the campsites because Chris was bringing his family of 3 but a 10 man tent.  They arrived and we helped set up the monster tent.  Then we went to try out mom's boat.  I've never driven it fast, or while pulling someone on a sea doo (inner tube with a floor) but turns out I'm a natural. Ruben had permasmile.

Chris and his wife Beth came out on the boat with their two kiddos and Beth overcame two fears, one of swimming in the middle of the lake, and the other of being pulled behind the boat.  Their son Connor loved the ride too! I took them back to port and then my buddy Jeremy arrived with his kids in tow and I gave them a tow.  It was fantastic, everyone had a blast until I looked at the gas gauge... So we quit playing for the day, Jeremy went home, and we went back to camp.

When we got back to camp we found more guests, Chris's brother Roger arrived with his family, and their dad Don was there with his wife and her sister and friend.  We sat around the campfire and talked until it was too late to be coherent and we went back to our tent.

The next morning we had some startling news.  Dorena lake was closed for swimming due to high concentrations of blue green algae.  I still needed to refill the gas tank so I went to town while Ru stayed at camp with my cousins kids.  I got gas (and took a much needed shower) and cruised back to Leach camp.  The kids were mutinous due to the swimming ban so I took the oldest ones on a hike around the south side of the lake.

Ruben fishing as seen from my resting spot in the tent.

Lake Trail

Happy Hikers

When we got back from the hike Kim (Roger's wife) got the kids involved in a game of Liar's Dice while I chatted with my uncle Don.  He mentioned that my grandma Doris was going on vacation to Las Vegas to visit with her granddaughter Michelle.  I had told grandma I'd come and visit when I saw her at mom's wedding so I called and she said it would be fine to drop by.  So we packed up our remaining belongings and headed for Cottage Grove.  On the way Ru broke down in whines so I called his dad and Ru went to hang with him which immediately changed his mood to exuberant. 

Its always lovely to talk with my grandma.  We chatted about life for a few hours then I said goodbye, retrieved Ruben and we headed back home to Salem.  We got in late, Ru had a headache and was itching so I bathed him and carried him to bed, then I unpacked and fell asleep exhausted.  I hope we get to camp again before summer ends.