At the end of our last camping trip we threw away our tent as it had ripped and torn in too many places to be worth trying to fix. As soon as I saw 10 person, instant up tents at Costco this year, I bought one. So, with the new tent sitting in the garage, I've been itching to go camping.
I googled a bit to find something that's not too far away and that wouldn't be too cold at night and found Casini Family Ranch on the Russian River. It turned out to be a great find. The drive up there turned out to be longer than expected, due to some navigational problems, but we made it without any kid meltdowns!!!
We had such a great time. Our campsite was right on the river, and everyone loved running around down there (especially Banjo)! The campground had a playground, a duck pond, and a darling general store. One of the highlights of the trip was the sluice box. The store sells bags of sand mixed with fossils and gemstones and has a sluice box where you can pan for gems! The kids had a blast and we loved watching them find their gems. The best part was that after they were done panning we were back at our campsite and I sat in the sun and read my book while Carey and Kacie napped and the big kids examined their treasures! We also loved having uncle Noah and aunt Kellie come visit us for dinner the second night.
Overall the trip was a blast and we can't wait to go back!
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| Camping dinner:) |
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| Early morning at the river |
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| This kid was SO happy to be camping! |
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| Feeding the ducks (and hissing at the geese) |
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| Learning how to use the sluice box |
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| panning for gems |
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| Identifying the treasures! |
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| Kacie loved hanging out by the river |
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| Haley, Abby and Seth loved playing on this "island" |
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| Hanging out with aunt Kellie and uncle Noah |
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| This girl LOVED camping! |
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| Happy campers |
