Apache Lake 2016

Our yearly Douglass family mini-reunion was such a blast. We went last year when Ander was just around a month or two old, we were still breastfeeding/pumping and it was blazing hot. Still a good time, but can't hold a candle to all the fun we had this year.
There's far, far too much to share, so I'll try to just let the pictures do the talking (one picture, a thousand words, as they say) and share the most exciting anecdotes.

Ander was the champion of the champs. It was far too hot and bright, and much too engaging, for him to get much of any kind of nap while we were there. He got some good power naps while the boat was in motion, though. Bless him.
He swims like a fish and thinks he can breathe like one as well. If he wasn't in the water he was shoving dirt down his gullet and then casually throwing the rocks whenever Mom or Dad scolded him, like it's what he was doing in the first place.
A lot of people expressed concern for the state of the weather that weekend, considering the valley was issued an Excessive Heat Warning and the forecast bore the ominous mark of "120". We were actually cold more often than we were scorching. We had purchased a long sleeve rash guard swim shirt for all three of us in preparation for the so-called excessive heat and those were by far our best idea. Ander's teeth were chattering for a good portion of every swim session, no one suffered any sunburns (discounting a minor blotch on my upper thighs from poor sunscreen application), and the water was absolute perfection.
Nighttime was an even more pleasant surprise. We got to light a fire since we were at a campsite with a fire ring, and we even actually needed our blankets (aka bedsheets) while we slept because the temperature dipped so nicely once the sun went down.
The worst part of the night was when Mark randomly got a strange bout of food poisoning, but luckily he made it out of the tent before it made it's dramatic entrance. He felt completely fine in the morning so we were able to continue on with our trip as if nothing happened.
The craziest story by far happened our second day up there. Mark's extended family was either out on the boat or walking down to the docks, so it was just myself, Mark and Ander, Tom and Mary (Mark's dad and soon-to-be Step-Mom, respectively) at the campsite. I didn't get to watch it happen, but the group that shared the cove with us had brought a pontoon and apparently they were not experienced boaters. In attempting to come ashore and anchor the boat they lost control and crashed headlong into our shoreline set up of pop-up canopies and camping chairs.
As I mentioned before, no one was at camp and we were preparing lunch so thankfully no one was hurt. The boaters were understandably sheepish and very willing and eager to make it right. So all worked out well.

Now, this is different and new and it very well may be a one time endeavor. But I made an effort to take more videos while we were out and when we got home I edited them into a little home video using Windows Movie Maker and royalty free tracks courtesy of Youtube (because I'm cheap).
I hope it is successful in relaying the feel of our amazing, little family outing. We look forward to this camping trip every year and I can't wait for the next one.