Memorial Day weekend fun in Leavenworth!

We finally got to feed our camping bug this past weekend. Mike got the car nearly completely packed Thursday night. We only had last-minute things and food to put in the next day. On Friday, I picked Evan up from school an hour early and we hit the road! We picked up Mike from work and took off. We took I-90 over Snoqualmie pass. Unfortunately, there was a rollover SUV accident that had traffic backed up for miles. It took us roughly 2 hours to get over the pass!! But that's okay... it's hard to be upset in traffic when you have views like this all along the way. This is why I LOVE Washington. It may be cloudy and gray for much of the year, but this is the payoff for patience!!





Check out the view from our campsite... ahhh... the Wenatchee River. It was so nice to be able to hear the water rushing by all day and night. Very lulling sound!


It was a bummer that we had to camp on gravel, but we made it work and we still had a lot of fun. Thank goodness for the air mattress!


How cute are these guys??? Go on... admit it!


ALL the guys had a great time at the river! It was so beautiful. The water was COLD... good enough for dipping feet, but not so much for swimming! Perhaps later in the summer when it warms up more. After all, it's only May!



Ethan and Evan were brave enough to get their legs wet!




Pretty in pink:



Other random images from the river's edge:









On the way back up the hill to our campsite, I couldn't help but revel in the absolute beauty of the plants growing along the hillside there:





Miss Aleigha was fascinated with the flowers:








We trekked into downtown Leavenworth to cruise the main drag and visit the local shops. They had a bunch of inflatables in the park and the kids had so much fun bouncing around! I also fell in love with a tree in the park. It provided a perfect umbrella from the sun and heat.




Later on we slit up. While the Hartmans went swimming, the Harris's took a trek down to a city park, parts of which ran along the Wenatchee River. It was beautiful down there.



As we walked along one of the park trails, we happened upon another family at the water's edge. Their son, who looked to be about 16 years old, was standing with his feet in the water as his father challenged him to jump in all the way. Keep in mind that this is the Wenatchee River... the waters in this river are straight off the snow melt from the surrounding mountains... and it's only May! This challenge is not for the faint of heart. The young teen walked back out of the water at one point because his feet were numb! His father offered him ice cream as a reward. While ice cream may not be good enough for a teenager, but it's a pretty good prize for a younger boy. Ethan chimed in that he would do it for ice cream. So Mike said, "Okay. If you jump in all the way, I'll get you ice cream!" See for yourself...




Evan, not to be outdone by his older brother, decided that he, too would do it for ice cream!




To my knowledge, the other boy never did jump all the way in. Mike even taunted him a bit, saying, "Are you gonna let a couple of little kids show you up?" Needless to say, we stopped at the Cold Stone Creamery before heading back to camp to get some much needed relief from the heat! The boys got ice cream. I got a smoothie instead. If you want a recommendation, the pineapple/coconut/orange smoothie there is to-die-for!!

We continued along the path through the park and the boys' clothes were dry in absolutely no time. We had a lot of fun!





Here are some clips of everyone in the pool. I think Evan was able to get over some of his fears about pools on this trip and that makes me happy. He verbalized to me that he was less afraid this time. And in this first picture, that's Ethan jumping into the pool. He had a blast jumping in, over and over again!








Before leaving the area, we did stop in town and have lunch together. We ate some GOOD German food! I was really looking forward to that. Plus, I was able to get some mustard from Andreas Keller, another awesome German restaurant in the area. They make the best mustard and they sell it to the public!

We were going to stay in Leavenworth until Monday but instead opted to leave a day early. I'm SO glad we did. It gave us a chance to get home and get some laundry done, get a good night's sleep in our own beds, and then spend Monday doing other things. Mike was able to go over to his mom's house and help them out with some things. I got to sleep in because I had to work a 12-hour shift that night. I was able to plow through all of the laundry and then we were able to set up all of our camping things and get them aired out, swept, and properly put away.

On our way home, we took Hwy 2 (Steven's Pass). What an absolutely gorgeous drive that was! Mike indulged me a few times along the way by pulling over so I could snap a few pictures. Here is some of the beauty we saw on the way back. We even stopped at a rest area with a park and tossed a frisbee with the kids. FUN!







It was a fun weekend and I'm so happy we were able to get together with the Hartmans for fun in the sun! Can't wait to see you guys again soon!!