4th Amendment

Jasper recently got back from a 4 day camping trip with Grandpa McKinnon. He had a lot of fun, and when I asked him what was his favorite part of the trip, his answer was, of course "shooting guns."

My dad went with 3 of his friends, and those friends brought their kids or grand kids. They also brought lots of horses, and guns for shooting targets. David and I stayed home with Jackson.

I can't think of anything more fun for a 12 year old boy (besides Xbox of course)!

In preparation for the trip, Grandpa packed for days before, loading up the horse trailer and camper. He never packs light to camp.

A couple of days before the trip, we met at a restaurant to celebrate Grandpa's birthday, and we also brought Jasper's gun for him to pack up. In the parking lot we transferred the gun from our vehicle to his, and I explained to Jasper that we should probably wrap the gun up in a blanket and not just carry it out in plain sight in the middle of a parking lot.

Jasper: Why not?

Me: Because you can't just walk around with guns. Even if it has a lock on it and no bullets, and the safety is on.

Jasper: Why not?

Me: Because its scary and people get freaked.

Jasper: Well I'll just pull out my 4th amendment on them then!

Me: Smile

The 4th amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Jasper meant the 2nd amendment, which protects the right for people to keep and bear arms.

But I thought it was pretty clever anyway!

Picture below is of Jasper a week before the trip, doing some practice riding.

Olympic Camping - THE END

Saturday afternoon we said our goodbyes.

We miss you already!

One more night of camping - Jackson took it like a champ.

We need to do this more often.

We drove the rest of the way on Sunday, which was day 7.

7 days of camping, over 2000 miles driven. I was glad to be home.

Olympic Camping - Part IV

We left Kalaloch on Friday, and then stayed at the Cole's home in a Seattle suburb that night.

We were excited to be able to spend more time with them. Saturday morning we went to a nearby lake and put the canoes and kayaks to use.

Jackson had just about had it at this point.

Megan with Staci, Lindsay with Becky.

Fishing on the dock.

Olympic Camping - Part III

Did you know that there is a pretty popular series of books and movies - the Twilight series - that takes place in the Washington's Olympic Peninsula? By an author named Stephenie Meyer? About Vampires and Werewolves?

Yep, there is.

And the city of Forks is definitely capitalizing on it.

Forks was a mere 30 miles from where we were camping, in Kalaloch.

I'm not even a huge fan, but we were so close we had to check it out.

The number of visitors to Forks has increased from approximately 17,000 a year, to 70,000 since the books/movies came out.

Maybe that's why in the chamber of commerce they had the cutouts for the Twilight characters in the lobby.

Which one of these things is not made of cardboard?

And Bella's truck in the parking lot.

Twilight tours. So tempting! Maybe more tempting if the movies had been filmed here, or if the characters in the book were real.

Instead we ate at a Sully's, where they had Edward ice cream, and Jacob burgers.

And scary wooden carvings of ... ???

Olympic Camping - Part II

After camping our first night in Oregon, we drove all day the rest of the day and finally made it to our next destination. We met my sister Becky and her family out our reserved camp spot in Washington.

I've been to a lot of places, and Olympic National Park - especially on the peninsula - ranks as one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

The forest is beautiful and green and wet, and the ocean is awesome and breathtaking.

We stayed in Kalaloch from Tuesday night through Friday.

Jackson and his cousin Lindsay bonded instantly - she is about 9 months older than him.

Here they are eating fruit snacks of the forest floor. Like a good mother I took a picture before stopping them.

We had crafts! Staci and My mom found these cool wooden boxes from Hobby Lobby. Each kid decorated it then used it to store their treasures, i.e. crab heads, rocks, and dirt.

Here Jasper plays with Megan and Molly next to the Ocean.

And here my husband, Jasper and sisters attempt to kayak the ocean. It was pretty much impossible to get past the waves.

Here I am running from the waves.

Olympic Camping - Part I

We started out Monday morning. We took two cars - Jackson was great while we drove, thanks to lots of treats, toys, and Jasper.

Here he is eating Rice Krispies made by Aunt Heather.

Somewhere before La Grande Oregon my Dad ran out of gas in the truck. The truck with the camper, 5 people and a dog, pulling 2 kayaks, 2 canoes and a ton of camping equipment. Luckily he coasted right off the freeway and soon we were on our way.

Somewhere between Pendleton and La Grande, we pulled off I-84 to stop at this fruit shop/antique store.

My Grandpa Haven Hampson was a fruit delivery man. He delivered fruit to this shop many years ago. Of course back then he delivered to this shop below.

It has since relocated to the newer bigger shop, just across the street.


The antique shop/fruit stand had delicious fruits and fun antiques.

Seriously - donut peaches - delicious.

Ginger Gold apples - yum.

Then we went to Emigration Springs - an Oregon State Park, and stopped for the night. This stop is right along the Oregon trail.

I was very nervous about Jackson's first time camping. Of course he had a blast, running around, peeking in tents and getting dirty. But it was the sleeping that stressed me out.

The first night sleeping in the tent he went from me to Aunt Staci, climbing over Jasper in the middle, for the first hour. He woke up at 4:30 am crying. It was pretty much terrible. However, the first night was the worst, and it was pretty good every night after that. :)

Onto part 2...

Olympic National Park - Sneak Peek

The Bennetts, McKinnons and Coles went camping last week. We drove over 2000 miles round trip and we had so much fun.

Here are a few pictures of our trip:

Megan, Grandma, Lindsay, Jasper, Jackson and Garrett.

Jasper skipping rocks.

Jackson, cheesing it.

We camped on the beach in Kalaloch (pronounced Klay-lock) Washington, and were only 30 miles(ish) from Forks. More on that to come.

The Bennetts on the beach. Jasper and Jackson's first time seeing the ocean.

Just a sneak peek.