Camping ✓

The weekends seems to get eaten up very quickly - it's a scout campout, or a bad weather, or  Kip's working late, or any other of a numberless list of previous commitments and valid reasons.  An open Friday came up, so we jumped on it and finally got out camping near our new home, up in the Bridger Teton National Forest close to Murphy's Lake.

The kids were so excited! (Especially the girls, but Caleb came around too ;))

Who can resist a s'mores dinner?!  Kip got himself a giant new truck, which would have been easier to load, but it doesn't have tags or insurance yet so we jammed into the Sequoia and set off!  Kip found us a nice spot with a picnic table, backed up to a hill; the girls gathered firewood and moss and Caleb started a rip roaring fire.

The evening was mostly about exploring and eating (junk food), then trying to get too bed once the sun was down.  We squeezed into one tent just to reduce the amount of set up and clean up.  The kids all did great tucked away underneath our cots.
In the morning we ate bagels toasted over the fire, then shot at bottles and leaves against the hill behind us.  Kip's handgun was the winner for the loudest and scariest.  :)
Then we went down the mountain to Murphy's lake for some early morning fishing and dragonfly catching!

 McKinly was the luckiest and caught her first fish!  (the picture is a little blurry because I was all the way across the lake).  We caught a total of 3 to take home and fry up.

Dad showing the kids how to gut the fish.  Mmmmmm, yum.

We made it home dirty and happy, Ella fried up our fish, and we officially checked "family camping" off of our 2017 goal list! :)  Hopefully we'll get to do it one more time before it's too cold...but if not, there is always next year!