Heyburn State Park

Story told by: Brody

We had a fantastic weekend camping at Heyburn State Park in Idaho with the Dobbins and Griffins!

When we arrived, Lainey and Henry helped Daddy with the tent, while I checked out the hills of the campground.

Lainey named our site “Camp Minnie.” She said it was inspired by the Minnie Mouse bucket we brought for the beach.

Sometimes you dig with pants on, and sometimes you don’t.

Exploring the campground with Claire and Nora.

Lainey took this picture of me and Mommy while I was stuffing my face full of my favorite camping food – Cheetos.

After dinner, Henry helped Daddy build a fire by collecting kindling.

Time for s’mores!

Henry and Mac

There were some great paths we liked exploring through the bushes (or as Mommy called them, “tick-infested trenches”).

I went for a personal record of dirtiness this weekend.

After slipping on a hill, I took a huge bite of my s’more, only to have Mommy stop me…

…because it looked like this. I tried to convince her it was fine, but she wasn’t having it.

After we went to bed (we finally fell asleep around 11:30), the adults pulled out yummy food and games. Of course our favorite hippy brought organic Doritos.

Mommy and Daddy taught everyone how to play Mexican Train.

The next morning we woke up before everyone else and had breakfast (and lots of coffee for Mommy and Daddy).

While the other families were waking up and having breakfast, we went on a morning hike.

We walked for about 30 minutes, and a lot of it was a steep climb that I did all on my own.

That girl has some muscles.

I collected lots of pine cones along the way.

On our way back down, my legs were a little tired, so Mommy and Daddy took turns carrying me down the steep parts.

While we were getting our stuff together for the lake, Lainey went on a quick hike with her friends.

It was going to be 95 degrees on Saturday, so we knew we wanted most of our day to be spent at the lake.

Jeremy took Henry and Mac out for a ride in their floaties.

Nora, Ivy, and Lainey went out for a ride in the inflatable boat.

Christy, Natalie, and Mommy managed to get a picture!

After lunch time, the mommies came in to join us.

Mommy and I floated around like this for about 30 minutes. It was Mommy’s favorite part of the day!

The mommies even had a few moments to float together.

Henry and I took a break for a bit to play on the playground with Daddy.

Daisy and Mirabel were staying at their cabin on the lake, so they boated over to join us for some swimming.

Dede is their grandma, so she came with them, and convinced all of us to swim out to the logs. Thank goodness we all take swimming lessons with her!

We spent over five hours swimming, and we loved every second!

The adults were really impressed about how happy we were all day.

While I remained fairly happy, there was only so much I could do while skipping my nap and only getting six hours of sleep the night before. In the middle of my graham cracker snack, I passed out.

After we packed up our stuff, we went to get ice cream from the marina store.

We all got push-up pops! The perfect summer treat. Except I wasn’t really feelin’ it.

How dare you get me a delicious ice cream treat and make me eat it on a hot day?!

After getting dressed once we got back to camp, Nora and I discovered that we’d brought the same shirt.

Making up fun games together.

Daddy grilled up some delicious burgers (and a hot dog for me because those are more my style).

If you’ve ever camped with young kids, you understand the importance of baby wipes. We use them for sticky hands, dirty faces, and for “baths” at the end of the day.

Lainey wanted to take a selfie with Mommy, but forgot that she had to smile while pressing the camera button.

Now she’s smiling!

Campfire time!

S’mores!

Lainey burned her first marshmallow, so Daddy worked with her to perfect her second one.

The Dobbins family had to head home after s’mores (they had to serve at church this morning), but we’re glad they could stay for such a full day!

After not much sleep, and a full day at the lake, we barely made a peep as we fell asleep by 8:15.

The adults played Mexican Train again. Mommy took this picture to document her taking first place, but there’s so many other amazing faces happening.

We slept until 7:00 this morning, so the Griffins beat us to wake up! They were happy to see us emerge from our tent.

Lainey made up some imaginary rules for Mexican Train and taught them to us.

The Griffins were out of there pretty early, so once we said our goodbyes, we helped Daddy pack up the tent.

Well, Lainey and Henry helped, while I ran up and down more hills.

While Daddy loaded up the big things in the car, we went on a scavenger hunt.

Time to head home!

We hadn’t even been driving for five minutes before I was out. This camping stuff is exhausting.

We’ve been wanting to try the Palouse Caboose in Palouse for quite awhile, so we decided to stop there for lunch. It was a perfect ending to a great weekend!