soggy bottom boys

a couple weekends ago we went camping in George Washington National Forest, which is beautiful and free entry and also where i used to go rock climbing ages and ages ago. it contains a beautiful and peaceful tributary of the shenandoah (you rolling river). it was glorious, if a bit more primitive than we were expecting, in that they hadn't turned on the water. it was a good thing we had brought a lot with us. regardless, the boys had a lot of fun and slept like logs in our 2-person tent. yah, we've outgrown that one . . . their favorite part was playing in Passage Creek:

here's my buddy, who's turning into a little man, in the middle of the river. he could lead a trek.

my little bright eyes:

he had a lot of fun getting really, really wet.

and playing peek-a-boo with the tent.

we brought the dog, too, which ended up being a major mistake. he is not an outdoor dog. he got really terrified when a squirrel dropped by our tent in the middle of the night. BUT we somehow managed to make a big enough fire to cook our dinner, despite the sort of ridiculous scarcity of wood. if you look closely, you can see that one stick, the one pointing right at you, is bubbling. that was pretty nifty.

we are super stoked to go camping again . . . when we get a bigger tent. and maybe some air mattresses, 'cause let's face it, folks: we're not so young as once we were.