Sadly, Summer Must End

The assortment of photos here represent our last trip of the summer in which we drove down the Oregon coast, camping along the way, with Lake Tahoe as our goal. It had been on my bucket list for a while...pretty photos dancing through Instagram promised gorgeous water and rocks to jump off. The lake was very beautiful, but perhaps not what we needed at the end of our busy summer. We didn't do it justice and everyone just wanted to get home. #vacationfatigue I need to remember this when I see pretty pictures of Michigan all over Pinterest. #droool

We did have a fantastic time zip-lining at Tahoe Treetop Adventure Park. It's a neato place where you can run the course again and again for two hours. And we also really liked the cabins at LL Stub Stewart State Park. I wish we had spent more time on the single track trails...right there inside the campground! I want to go back again, next time with biking buddies.

Bullard's Beach State Park -- We chose to nab a yurt this time and stayed a couple nights with our camping buddies. #allthehearts The yurt village is pretty cozy, neighbors nearby. But there are woods behind with plenty of fort options for the kiddies. We LOVED catching the ocean spray right by the Coquille River Lighthouse and then went into Bandon to check out the toy store and this epic fish made entirely of recycled trash! Kronenberg Park had fantastic drift wood on the beach that kept the kids busy for quite a while.

This is McArthur-Burney Falls, in the middle of nowhere Northern Cali. We camped here on the way to Tahoe. It was okay... :) Sweet waterfall, but pretty dry campsites with almost zero privacy.

Tahoe Treetop Adventure Park -- this place rocks!! It's not going to break the bank, and even the little kiddos will have a BLAST! The zip lines are exciting but not intimidating and there are all kinds of up high adventures to be had! It was the highlight of our two days in Tahoe. We camped near the lake at D L Bliss State Park, which was almost perfect, except for the bees and the water shortage. Coin operated showers [bleh] which were closed when we were there. Gotta love California!

And so just like that, in a flash, the blink of an eye, another summer behind us. This one went faster than any ever before. None of us could believe it was time for school to start again. I still haven't taken FIRST day of school photos. Pretty soon they'll be twentieth day of school photos. I just keep trying to get my feet underneath me and boom...I fall on my face again. Can't. Keep. Up.

Things are evening out. We become reacquainted with schedules and routines. We'll be okay.

Currently:
Eating | Peach crisp x1000 a la mode, we'll be eating it for the next couple weeks I guess!
Enjoying | Listening to my freshly minted second grader read out loud to me :)
Listening to | My new Sabbath playlist on Youtube. Favorites curated.
Thankful for | My new work schedule that suits our family so much better than what I was doing last spring. THANK YOU JESUS!!
Reading | #1. Where the Wind Leads by Vinh Chung about his childhood experiences in Vietnam as a refugee fleeing the Viet Cong. This story is INCREDIBLE. #2. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks as a readaloud for the kids. We all hate to stop at the end of a chapter!!
Pinning | Recipes for Greek Tzatziki and Cinnamon Plum Baked Oatmeal
Anticipating | Pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream x1000...fall redeems itself