For The Love Of...

TRADITIONS

We don't really have many traditions here except one. Every summer our family takes a week long camping trip to Moses Lake, WA. My husband grew up with his parents having a small place on the lake and he spent a lot of time there as a kid. Naturally, after having children of his own, he wanted that tradition to continue. It is hot there. It isn't the prettiest lake and I think it has gotten worse over the years. There have been many times we have gone and it seems people use the beaches as their personal dumping ground. Most of the time I am really upset by how people treat things, but there it seems especially bad.

Someday we may need to find a new place to take the kids. But for now, this is our tradition.

Our family always has a really great time just unplugging from the world and being together. The kids love swimming and building castles in the sand. It makes me sad that people don't take care of places like this and help to keep it beautiful for everyone to enjoy.

If you have a tradition, holiday or otherwise, please link up to Sharon's blog and tell us about it. 

A Little R & R

It seems like I am constantly busy. Cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, cooking, cleaning, going to work, breaking up kids squabbles, cleaning... (I totally meant to say cleaning 3 times, because, well, I clean an awful lot). Every summer I get a much needed break from all of that and I really look forward to it. We load up the camper and head over the mountains and into the sun and water at Moses Lake.

A few months ago, my husband told me we probably wouldn't be able to go. We, like many other people right now, are on a pretty tight budget. It upset me greatly. It's my one week to relax and not have a care in the world. And it was the only week my kids would have any kind of summer at all.

We ended up pinching some pennies to make it work, and I'm so glad we did.

Here's a picture of the wind farm that's on the way to the lake. I love it. I kinda want a turbine of my own, actually.

Bijou was even relaxing in the car on the way

This is what I woke up to see every morning. It was perfect.

Talk about procrastination! I am the master. I was binding the camping quilt while camping. Oy. But I got it finished, and there it is on our bed in the camper.

On one of our vacation days, we decided to drive a couple of hours to see the Grand Coulee Dam. On the way we made a few stops. Soap Lake was the first stop. It's a tiny little town where it seemed that everyone spoke Russian. The lake there is full of all kinds of minerals that are supposed to be really great for your skin. We got in the water and immediately noticed millions of tiny reddish orange things floating in it. I assumed it was just minerals, but we came to find out they were tiny little shrimp. Ew. People were coming down to the lake and going into the water with buckets. Then they would dig down and pull out this tar looking stuff from the floor below. They brought their tar-filled buckets up to shore and started rubbing it all over their bodies. It was a very strange place, and the kids and I are not fans. I don't think we'll be going there again.

Our second stop was Dry Falls. Now, that was something I liked. I think geology is incredibly cool.

We also stopped and saw Banks Lake, which is crazy huge. 27 miles long!

Here is a picture of me with the lake in the background (such a nerdy tourist):

Then, past that, we saw Steamboat Rock (please excuse the cracked windshield!)

Then we finally made it to Grand Coulee Dam

At night, when the water runs over the face of the dam, they put on a laser light show that tells the story of how and why the dam was built. It was really awesome. 

Here's a few more gratuitous lake fun photos. 

I hope you enjoyed going on vacation with me. Washington State is amazing. There really is so much to see and do here. If you've never visited, you should make the time at least once. It's breathtakingly beautiful. But I am a bit biased I suppose. I am a Washingtonian, through and through!