Summerdale! (week 549)

This was definitely the year of the Ari in Summerdale.  At age 2, Ari is definitely a force to be reckoned with.  He is 100 percent dude--rolling in the dirt, destroying stuff, and throwing anything that he can get his hand on.  We had an awesome time this year at Summerdale rafting the creek, playing with hatchets, building firs, catching fish and eating crawdads with Grandpa John.

Because this was our second trip to Yosemite within a month, we never made our way to the Valley this year.  Instead, we enjoyed the creek which was raging because all of the rains. It was the first time that we could fully raft through the campground, so we had an awesome time rock hopping and exploring the upper creek, and then rafting down to the swimming hole.

We also caught lots of fish this year.  Because we were there during the week (and not the weekend), there was not really any competition for fishing spots.  We took a hike up to the Lewis Creek waterfall, collected and cut wood, learned to build fires (until Dad threw a giant stump into the fire pit), and generally played it low key.

It was awesome that the Armstrongs made it, just a couple months after Doug's big surgery; and, super awesome that Alex, Laura and Ari made it up to join us for blonde jokes, art critiques, classic camping songs, and s'mores around the campfire.  After not showering for a few days, we all smelled pretty smokey and looked forward to returning home where we got showers and some Xbox!