Smith & Morehouse {Camping}

For Father's Day Weekend (that's right, I'm just now getting around to blogging it), we headed into the mountains for another weekend of camping.  Somehow it never occurred to us that campsites would be crowded, and a reservation was necessary.  Big mistake!  We arrived at the Smith & Morehouse Reservoir & campgrounds around 2pm that Saturday only to find out that one tiny campsite was all that was left.  So it's wasn't the ideal site by any means, but at least we had a spot for our tent and didn't have to let down a particular little boy.  Phew!

While our site was small and pretty open, the campgrounds as a whole were beautiful.  Tall mountain peaks lined one side, as well as a large stream.  My favorite part was sleeping to the sound of fresh running water.  I may just have to change the boys' sound machines from ocean to stream now!  And I may just always need to be near rushing water for all future camping trips.  I was spoiled!

We were completely unplugged during our adventure and enjoyed the slow pace of our days.  We decided on an early dinner to make sure we had plenty of time for fishing at dusk.  We walked along the stream for a bit until Conor could see tons of fish just waiting to catch some bugs floating down stream.  He pulled out his fly fishing pole and started catching fish immediately.  Lots of graylings & one rainbow trout.  Liam was excited, yet skeptical.  He didn't necessarily want to be handling the fish.  But Finn... Finn was so into it.  He wanted to touch, hold, poke every single fish.  Conor couldn't get it to him fast enough.  So with the pressure on from baby brother, Liam finally jumped on board with the fish touching too!

While fishing may have been the highlight, there were so many little details.. little moments to our adventure that made it a special one.  There were wild strawberry bushes just covering the campgrounds (yet unfortunately it was too soon for berries).  Big monarch butterflies were all around us.  Conor & Liam spotted a beaver while kayaking, and he even slapped his tail on the water for them.  And we took one epic walk through an over-the-knee-high stream in search of the best fishing spot.  I may have had a heart attack while crossing with both boys simply in our arms, but we survived!  Liam was so tuckered out from it all, that that evening he fell asleep in our camping hammock while waiting for the stars to come out.  It was nearly a full moon that night, and seeing his sleeping face lit up by it was such a sweet sight.  We really slowed down and took it all in.

While this trip really was all sorts of amazing, it wasn't without some struggles.  Both boys had colds and Finn was teething.  There was a fair amount of whining, crying, & just general not listening.  Whether we were at home or in the mountains, we would still have been dealing with them; so, we chose mountains.  I hope we always choose mountains.