Peaden Middleton Summer Camping Trip 2016

We have had an amazing summer, but this last weekend's annual "Peaden Middleton camping trip" was an absolute highlight. We went for the 2nd year in a row with Mike and Ali Middleton and their two kids Henry and Andi who happen to be almost the exact same age as Lydia and Austin. This year we went to the Payson Lakes Campground. 

Shantel and Ali drove up on Thursday afternoon and Mike and I met up as soon as we got off work to join them and took Friday off of work. I'm posting these pictures now...but I will be honest, Ali is a fantastic photographer and was taking pictures all weekend, I'm hoping for an update later on with some of the photos she took. 

Thursday night was mostly about setting up camp, making dinner and enjoying the fire. The Middleton's made delicious chicken tacos. Once we got the kids all bundled and the fire going we all made smore's and talked by the fire. 

Originally we planned to spend the weekend swimming in the lake, canoeing and paddle boarding. However...this summer there was a big issue with many of the lakes where there was an algae bloom that caused the water to be unsafe. Unfortunately the Payson lakes were affected as well, which means no swimming, boating or touching the water. This picture below is as close we we let the kids get to the water all weekend. We did still enjoy a nice walk down to the lake to check things out.

Things  did work out really well because with the water off limits, we were all pretty happy to just relax and let the kids do whatever they wanted. For Andi and Austin, this consisted of playing in the van. They loved crawling all over and spent a good amount of time in the driver's seat. The other thing they really enjoyed was following Lydia and Henry around to do whatever they were doing.

Lydia and Henry spent almost every free second playing in the dirt. When we first arrived they started off with digging dirt and putting it in piles. The next day we got out the trucks and they drove trucks around building "houses." They would gather sticks, dirt and anything else to complete their projects. They played so well together all weekend and had a great time.

We got a chance to chat with Mike and Ali and play some games while they kids had fun in the dirt.

Some other highlights from the trip was the kids scooter around the campsite and campground.

It was a big weekend for the kids and Lydia needed a rest during one of our hikes around the campground.

For dinner on Friday night we did pizza sandwiches that were so good.

Right after dinner a big rainstorm came through, it did not last long, but we hid out in the Middleton tent while it came through, You can see the picture below with Henry and Lydia playing an intense game of Raccoon Rumpus.

We did pancakes, eggs and then either sausage or eggs for breakfast both mornings.

We packed up Saturday around lunch and went to Grotto falls. Somehow I do not have a single picture at the falls, which is so sad, but we hiked up to Grotto falls and the kids loved it. We had to cross over a bunch of little bridges on the way up. The water was pretty low which made it fun because we could get right up to the falls. We ate lunch and then headed back down and home.

The most dramatic part of the weekend was when we met back at our house. We switched stuff over and then Henry went to get in the car. Lydia just totally lost it, she was so devastated that Henry was leaving.

We had such a great time. We are lucky that are kids have such great friends. We are even more lucky to have Mike and Ali as friends. We had a great time laughing, cooking and enjoying seeing our kids have so much fun. We are already looking forward to the 3rd annual camping trip next year.