Camping, a funeral and Walla Walla, again

I really can't seem to stay put. I love to travel. I wanted to go do something fun with dad this summer and I know how much he loves camping. Also the first mission president that served in Romania lost his wife to brain cancer and we knew that her funeral was going to happen Saturday (we left Thursday) and it was relatively close to us here in our state. I loved this couple, the Morreys. They were so wonderful to everyone in Romanian and really set the good work for missionary work over there.

So we camped for two nights and then hurried over to Richland, WA to the funeral and then on to Walla Walla to stay overnight with Mike and Noel. Only overnight turned into two nights because we had too much fun. The kids got along great and delighted in swimming in their pool all day long.

Camping was great. We first stopped over near a lake and as soon as we got out of the car got swarmed with mosquitoes. OMG! They were horrible so we left in search of another place that was recommended to us near a river this time.
Turns out the place we went to didn't have mosquitoes but little annoying flies but that wasn't so bad. We found a spot next to the little river with a little beach next to our camp and this place was completely FREE. Sure no showers, just an outhouse and no running water. The mosquito place was $20 a night. I am so glad we went on.
We ate amazing food, hiked the beautiful mountains nearby, had a big fire and star gazed at night. It was so relaxing. We are definitely going back there. The place is called Teanaway.

It was fun taking photos with my dad's point and shoot camera. It's a good one.

The good moments of these two. Don't worry, there is probably more bickering going on in real life than kisses but they do love each other.

The fire wood was super dry and we got a nice fire going. It was warm even at night. Mom loved that.

Dad, the engineer likes to construct things. He put his knife to work and did this cool little mill. My kids were mesmerized and so were the slew of other kids in the campground. It just kept going and going. Growing up my parents hiked a ton with us and my dad always did something fun like this. He would carve little planes, and other fun things for us. What a fun childhood I had. I love my parents.

The water was really shallow so I wasn't scared it would take my kids away so it was nice to let them play there without being too scared.

There were lots of families there with lots of kids and the people next to us were very friendly and invited my kids over to paint rocks. What a fun activity and nice not to worry too much about the mess. 

 A little waterfall. The hike from here was a pretty long one so we just went up as much as we could before the kids started whining. We didn't bring much food with us so it was a good thing we took it easy and then went to make our yummy food. Oh,  and we saw mountain goats. They were far up but we could still see them fairly well. Apparently they are aggressive so I am glad they were far from us.

 I think I found my blue bell flowers. Dacian now keeps saying: Here's mommy where he sees flowers or here's daddy when he sees a hawk soaring above.

 Eating mici, the Romanian caseless sausages. We had a feast.

 The Palmers at the funeral. They were another couple who we love. They also served in Romania and we were so surprised to see them there. They have lived in the same ward with he Morreys for a long, long time.

 Elder Leavitt was the only missionary who could make it to the funeral. He lives fairly close to us. It was fun to hang out together.

 Here we all are. President Morrey is right next to my dad. He looked so thin and frail. A sweet, sweet man. He was so happy we were there and was so kind to us.

 Walla Walla Shakespeare Festival. We saw MacBeth one night. Pretty cool! Do you like how Shakespeare's collar spells Walla Walla?

 Noel I think loved having my parents there. We had so am much fun together. She was brave enough even to take my mom driving. I was in the back seating having heart attack after heart attack. She is a driver's ed instructor with a break on her side so she was very much at ease. Not me. I am so glad she took my mom though to give my mom some courage and excitement for wanting to learn how to drive. The reason she is not driving yet I feel is because of me or my dad. We are too scared to go out with her. I can't imagine one day having to do this with my kids. I don't have the guts but I am glad I have a sister in law I can ship them too. :)

Picture taken from the car. It was getting so green and pretty the closer we got to Seattle. It was also getting foggier, darker, rainier and colder. :)