Oroville
July 7-10, 2015

We were just home from camping at Monck and it was stinkin' hot!  Me? I don't like the hot so much....so we called Walt and Deb...they have a pool :)  After a nice cool swim we were chatting and Deb said she was hoping to go camping this week but didn't want to make the trek out to Oroville on her own.  I jokingly said that the kids and I should join her....

....well, we joined her!  And here we are in Manning Park feeding the gophers some chips.  They like plain chips.

They're so cute...

...and they ate right out of the kids' hands.

They could have fed them the whole bag of chips but it was time to get back onto the road to the lake!  It's hot out there and a swim in the lake would be good! 

Matthew had a few friends to hang out with.  Logan, Nathan and Mackenzie.  They pretty much lived in the lake in one of the boats.

Jake hooked up with Dawson for the week.  We hardly saw him since they were in or behind the boat most of the time. 

Matthew spent hours on the Visscher's huge floating lounge...

Nicole hung out with Meagan and Maddie...they played a lot of games with the Visscher aunts and uncles. 

Deb...my date for the week.

....don't we make a great couple?

Oh....look, Jake must be hungry because he resurfaced.

The cool boat the boys hung out on quite a bit.

Our humble abode for the week. Yes, I camped in a tent.  It was a different experience but I must say that I am a bit of a princess and really  did miss our trailer.  The tent was HOT in the morning and I was out and about quite early.   

When we went to pack up the tent at the end of our stay it was COVERED in some sort of sticky sap!  We had to scrub the tents with soapy water before we could pack them away....more sweat...grrr. 

We played a lot of card games with the kids.  It was such a relaxing week.  We kept the cooking down to a minimum and took any leftovers from the rest of the Visscher family whenever it was offered.  We also ordered pizza and had a big family dinner on the beach.

Deb, Caroline and I had the old kids and we spent long afternoons into the early evenings on the beach. When we were finally done with our dinners we would join the rest of the family around the campfire.

Fun times on the Berendregt's boat.

Jake spent most of his time in Oroville with the Dawson on the Barendregts boat.

...or behind it.  He wake boarded, tubed and even tried and conquered surfing behind the boat too.  He was in his element and having a blast! 

He got a bit more air on the wake board behind this boat than he does behind Rod & Linda's boat!  This kid is NOT scared to try anything! 

Nicole's turn!  She was a bit more cautious than her crazy brother!  She was intimidated by the huge wake but she did it and did it well!

This kinda apprehensive face is likely because he was told that anyone who gets a ride in the boat has to go behind it!  Hmmmm will he do it? 

As you can see he was terrified but I told Alita (who was driving the boat) to just go.  What a mean mom... 

But...he did it....

...and he had fun with it too!

He had a grand time!

 Yes, it's summer holidays and I take pictures of my feet!  It's relaxing!

My turn!

More fun beach time!  Matthew and Nathan built a lot of sand castles.

Nicole was greeted by this little gem..

Hugs...

...hand holding....

...and cuddles!

More sand castles....

....and just like that, the week was over and it was time to squish everything back into the car and head back home.  What a great, impromptu week!  Loved it!