Lost Lake

In May, my sister Emily invited us to go camping with her family near Lost Lake, in the Mount Hood wilderness. Initially I did not want to go. Yes, I enjoy camping but not with a baby that doesn't sleep through the night even in his own crib. I only imagined how bad the night could be for all of us. But then the voice inside me said, "To heck with reason! Live a little!" and before I knew it we would planning our trip.

We drove up on Friday with some vague directions from off the internet. They took us onto a dirt road in the middle of NOWHERE, but it promised a scenic view and that's what we got. This is the view we had as we drove in:

We also happened to run into the Pacific Crest Trail, the trail that runs all the way from Canado to Mexico. Ben has a dream to do it one day, so we were sure to document that he'd at least been at one of the trailheads.

Miraculously we ended up on paved road again. We got there at nightfall and set up camp, then quickly walked down to the lake as the sun set. The night was spent chatting around the campfire and enjoying ourselves. It was great.

The night was cold and Teddy slept terrible, but I was actually braced for worse so I woke up in a pretty good mood. We ate a delicious breakfast cooked by Emily and Darren and warmed up around the fire.

Me (in my hideous camping beanie) and Teddy

He is such a doll

Teddy doing what he does best- exploring and gettin' dirty

My niece Ellie had just got a brand new puppy and Nayeli was IN LOVE. It was so fun to see her hold and play with it.

After breakfast, we headed out on a loop hike around the lake. We wanted to be able to see the amazing view of Mount Hood on the other side.

Ben wanted to take the kids like this and this is actually how we started hiking. But we soon realized it wasn't practical and I ended up carrying Teddy. Ben is a boss though. What else can I say? :)

This was the stunning view we got. Ben and I agree that Lost Lake is one of our top three most beautiful places we've been in Oregon. It's unreal.

We wanted to get the perfect shot...

so we waded into the freezing water and got it!

Last but not least, we took our raft that we got for Christmas on it's maiden voyage. The water was a bit choppy and Teddy kept trying to throw himself into the water, so it wasn't a long trip. It was good to get it out though and begin to enjoy it. Ben grew up taking these same types of rafts on adventures, so we know good things are to come.

We then played on the shore while people took turns in the raft. Nayeli and Gabe stripped down to their underwear and waded in the water. Gabe is finally starting to pay attention to Nayeli. He has been very indifferent to her up until now. It's fun to see their friendship forming.

More puppy love. That poor dog...

Darren, Kyle and Paul manning the seas

Nayeli and Gabe weren't happy about getting their pictures taken

But they had a great time in the water and that's all that matters right?

We left that evening so tired but so happy. It was one of the funnest camping trips we had ever been on. Emily's family is so fun to get together with and it's been great living so close together.