First, thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments on my last post. I was feeling antsy about putting that out there. I always forget about the overwhelming support of the blogosphere. You guys are amazing.

Eric and I spent the weekend in a small town – actually town’s not the correct word, more like village – in South-Eastern B.C. visiting his sister and her kids. There was no cell service (no email), we were smack dab in the middle-of-nowhere. It was wonderful. We spent two days lying on the beach, building sand castles, swimming in the lake and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Bliss.

I also had the chance to test out my new Nikon D60 that I got on Friday. Love. I took almost 300 pictures but I won’t bore you with all of them.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Summer is…

…taking your time on roadtrips and enjoying the scenery.

Summer is…

…time at the beach. With family.

Summer is…

…building sandcastles.

Summer is…

…handstand contests and jumping off shoulders.

Summer is…

…family.

Summer is…

…swinging off the tarzan rope.

Summer is…

…hiking in flip-flops to enjoy some natural beauty.

Summer is…

…precious moments.

Summer is…

…sleeping in a tent.

Summer is…

…campfire stories.

These are just a few things that represent summer to me.

What represents summer to you?

PS: I really admire people who do photo posts all the time, this took FOREVER!!!!

Camping has always been a huge part of summer for me. For as long as I can remember my grandparents have taken me and my cousins camping on the weekends. We’d bike around the campsite, play in the woods, roast hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire, swim and boat in the lake, and play on the camp playground.

I love camping. I don’t mind being out in the woods for 2 or 3 days, I can even handle going without a shower! I think that camping is one of the most relaxing things you can do, and for me, it represents everything I love about summer!

Clearly our camping weekend was a success!

We ended up going to a lake that was about 30 minutes out of Kamloops, perfect distance I thought, we set up our tent when we first got there. We used to sleep in the back of the Ford Escape when we went camping, but since the Escape is no more we had to purchase a tent. Luckily, we got a great deal at Walmart and got a 4-man tent, a shelter-thingy and two sleeping bags for only $100! Here’s our campsite:

After getting settled in and having a little snack we headed down to the beach for some tanning and book reading.

I was going to go for a dip in the lake, but the water was much too cold still!

After lying on the beach, relaxing for awhile we drove down to the local store and got some ice cream. Driving back to the campsite, eating ice cream with the windows rolled down reminded me SO much of summers when I was a kid.

We then decided that even though it was late in the afternoon we would do the hike that the park had to offer, it apparently had great views. Preparing ourselves for a 1-2 hour hike we loaded up the backpack with water and Clif bars, only to find out the hike was only 1.3 K each way. So we had a 30-pound backpack for nothing. Whoops.

We did get a BEAUTIFUL view at the top though. We sat on a bench and looked out at this view for about half an hour, it was just so peaceful and relaxing. This is why I love hiking–the end view ALWAYS makes the hard climb worth it!

My dream house would be on a lake like these ones:

After our hike we headed back to our campsite, roasted hot dogs for dinner, played cards and threw a baseball around.

Camping wouldn’t be camping without smores! The ultimate treat!!

We then went to bed early. The ONLY downside of our trip was that I didn’t bring any foamies or an air mattress, just a few blankets to pile up, so we didn’t have the best sleep on the hard gravel. I will definitely be investing in some foam or an air mattress before our next trip!

Oh, and just a little flashback for you, here’s some pictures from the first time Eric and I ever went camping together, the summer of 2006, three years ago:

We only had a 2-man tent then, FYI: by 2-man tent they actually mean 2 small men, or 2 children, not 2 full-sized adults because sleeping in this tent was VERY cramped and uncomfortable. I’m so glad we upgraded to the 4-man tent this time around, at least we had an air mattress then though!

We did some fishing that time and I gutted my first fish ever. It was disgusting.

Oh and I found this quite hilarious.

Eric when we were camping three years ago:

Eric camping this weekend:

I always say he needs to invest in new clothes and now I have proof!!!

We plan on doing several more camping trips this summer, it’s really a great, inexpensive way to spend a weekend!

Do you go camping in the summer? Do you like camping?

PS: Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for the bars! Winner will be announced tomorrow morning, so if you haven’t already, go here and enter!