Sand Dunes 2016

{June 10th - 12th}

We made our second annual trip down to Great Sand Dunes National Park to camp with a bunch of our friends.  We all had a blast last year that we were sure not to miss it this year and have already grabbed a spot for next year as well.

We drove down Friday morning and got there around lunch.  It was starting to rain/storm so we got our tent set up quickly and hung out for awhile to see if the storm would pass.

We decided to still head down to the dunes for a bit before diner even though it was a little windy and chilly.

little explorers at our campsite

 

 

Braxton was an awesome camper and tent sleeper and was so wiped at the end of each day, he just crawled in his sleeping bag and passed out each night.

Everett was not a good tent sleeper.

I don't know if its just his age (Braxton wasn't really good until last year around 3 yrs), or the fact that it was something new and different, or what.  But he whined and talked and played around for a good hour in there (after Braxton has passed out) before we popped in to check on him and tell him to lay down.

Thats when Brian spotted the piles of sand and rocks.

He had apparently opened up one of the back zippers and scooped, by the HANDFULS, tons of sand and rocks into the tent.  It was such a mess!

When we popped in to check on him, he was laying there in the sand, propped up on his sleeping brother, just playing with the flashlight, ha!

He finally passed out but was pretty uneasy all night and woke up a good handful of times crying/whining.

Saturday morning we got up, ate, and headed down to set up a spot at the dunes early at 8:30am.

We stayed until around 3:30/4, so it was a long day!

We ended up with perfect weather all day... hot with a little breeze, and got a spot right where the water was still barely flowing, which made it perfect for all the little ones to play in.

Last year we didn't even attempt to hike up the dunes part at all since the boys were both little but Braxton was really into it this year so we headed over for awhile.

We rented a sled to slide down and Braxton had a blast!

He was so pumped to go down by himself and even hiked up most of the time on his own as well.

Everett made one run down with Brian but got sprayed with so much sand in his face/mouth that we called it good after that.  haha, oops!

We basically spent the entire day just hanging out on the beach with the boys playing in the mud and water.

I'm pretty sure it was Braxton's favorite day.  EVER.

He loved every single second of this trip and was soo good.

Loved playing with all his friends, loved playing in the mud/water, loved sliding down the sand, and loved every bit of the camping.

He was so bummed when it was time to head back home.

 

all those  little dots on the sand are people hiking up towards the top

 

{looking back down towards the creek from the dunes}

Next year there will be 3 little boys in this picture!

 

We have quite the crew that goes every year and this year there were 19 kids between us all.

Love this picture of all of them.

We got packed up right away on Sunday morning to head back since the mosquitos were starting to get bad, but had such a fun weekend with the boys!

Brian and I have gotten pretty efficient with packing, setting up and cleaning up from camping but its still always a lot of work.
And the boys get soo dirty on this trip!
But the boys love it so much and hopefully we are training them well while they are young and it will just keep getting easier.

{our view from our campsite}

Next year will be a little more crazy with an 8 month old baby, but we have such a good time we wouldn't miss it!