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Camping!

    A group of young children sitting and eating ice cream with a picnic table behind them

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    We went camping last week. Four nights around the campfire, smores galore, every meal outdoors and a mountain of laundry at the end of it all.

    It was so nice to get away from work and the old routine. Here’s a look at our camping trip, just because I’d like to share it with ya.

    We took so many pictures, I don’t know where to begin. Ah, here we go. Pretty isn’t it?

    Camping 2013-13-2

    We went fishing, hiking, biking, mushroom picking, boating, ATV’ing, eating, snacking, eating more, star gazing, cuddling, walking, hunting (with plastic bows and arrows). What didn’t we do?

    My parents brought tiki torches with oil that repelled mosquitos. It was wonderful. My hubby and son helped put them up all around our campsite.

    Camping 2013-3

    This was the extent of our hunting. I think we had more fun with these than the kids. My son got the bows and arrows for his birthday. I’m curious about real archery now. Are any of you into that?

    Camping 2013

    There was a LOT of this going on and the children got their exercise. lol.

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    Keeping my little fella clean was impossible. He may as well have rolled around in the dirt. He’s pretty clean still in this picture. I hope that’s a rock in his hand:

    Camping 2013-8

    Speaking of dirty, after the second day of not showering and feeling fairly grimey, my sister Sveta (the cosmetologist), turned the back of my parents camper into a salon. It was magical. Thanks Sveta!! I owe you one.

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    A typical morning (mornings started off chilly):

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    Uncle Vadim dressed his niece:

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    My son had so much fun with all his little friends. They played all day long and blew through loads of energy. At about 10pm he was asking us to take him to bed.

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    We fished every day; mostly off the boat. My son caught the limit in trout one day! He gets so excited pulling in a fish with his own fishing pole. He’s already a pro. Dock fishing proved to be crummy, but who cares, we were sitting on a dock relaxing in the middle of nowhere. That’s me in the orange shirt.

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    This is what happened daily with the trout we caught. Catch and release doesn’t exist in our family unless it’s a gross or bony fish. Fresh trout is BOMB! Dad gutted the fish and Mom sautéed it to perfection.

    Camping 2013-24 Camping 2013-2-2

    The evening scene: I was probably licking my dusty fingers after a marshmallow. I was the unofficial marshmallow roaster for the children.

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    My hubby and I went for a walk at night and photographed the lake. This shot took 30 seconds to capture the light of the moon. It was pitch black outside and there was no flash used. Pretty cool eh?

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    And this is the camp site at night (again, pitch black out) Our camera is awesome, just sayin: (Can you see the big dipper?)

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    Breakfast was definitely the favorite meal. My sister Alla pre-made the nalesniki which were a wonderful treat; crepes at camp? Oh yes!

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    Here’s another typical breakfast.

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    This was my favorite meal of all. A pot of soup made by my Mama. It was perfect after a couple days of heavy eating. Of course my mom packed dill for our camping trip.

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    My husband went mushroom picking. We later discovered that 90% of the mushrooms were wormy so they were tossed. It’s still pretty cool to go mushroom picking in the woods.

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    Oh look we are pigging out again.

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    Thanks Bogdan and Nadia for letting us borrow the ATV. Great fun!!

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    After 4 days, we made our way home,… but not before stopping in McCall, ID at our favorite burger joint (My Father’s Place) and the best ice cream place ever (Ice Cream Alley)

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    We finished up our ice cream cones while the kiddos ran through a fountain by the beach.

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    Camping 2013-23

    Summer, I’m going to miss you. On the bright side, Christmas is just 4 months away. I know it, I’m ridiculous.

    Natasha Kravchuk

    Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the creator behind Natasha's Kitchen (established in 2009), and I share family-friendly, authentic recipes. I am a New York Times Best-Selling cookbook author and a trusted video personality in the culinary world. My husband, Vadim, and I run this blog together, ensuring every recipe we share is thoroughly tested and approved. Our mission is to provide you with delicious, reliable recipes you can count on. Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy you are here.

    Read more posts by Natasha

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    Comments

    • Rose
      August 29, 2019

      You and your sisters are georgous ! and family are so beautiful thanks for sharing

      Reply

      • Natashas Kitchen
        August 30, 2019

        Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Rose. You’re so nice! Thank you!

        Reply

    • Viktoriya
      November 14, 2016

      Natasha, i heard there is a cool hot springs place in Idaho. Can you please tell me the one you would recommend?
      thank you)

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        November 14, 2016

        There’s one called Gold Fork that is pretty cool 🙂

        Reply

        • Viktoriya
          November 15, 2016

          thank you, my friend)

          Reply

    • Jilll
      August 14, 2014

      Thank you for sharing your wonderful holiday pics. You have a lovely family. much luv

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 14, 2014

        Thank you so much Jill 🙂 It felt good to write about something other than food for a change 😉

        Reply

    • Olga
      September 6, 2013

      I really enjoy reading about your various adventures. Thanks for sharing a part of your life and family with us.
      I love camping and am such a country girl at heart, I really miss it. I grew up on 100 acres of beautiful country. I spent my whole childhood in the beautiful outdoors. Picking berries, mushrooms, bonfires, swimming in the river, etc. were an essential part of my life. This post brought me back some wonderful memories and made me really homesick too.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        September 20, 2013

        Sounds like a dreamy childhood! That’s so awesome; 100 acres!!

        Reply

        • Mike
          January 16, 2022

          Great pics of your camping trip. I have a question, can you make peroshskis on one of your shows? Don’t know how to spell that…

          Reply

    • Jake Taylor
      August 28, 2013

      The images from your camping trip looks amazing. The location is very great and I must you had a wonderful time with your family.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 28, 2013

        Thanks Jake! It was really nice 🙂

        Reply

    • Snow
      August 26, 2013

      Oh wow! Those are awesome too:)

      Reply

    • Snow
      August 26, 2013

      Looks like you guys had a blast! Family camps are always the best!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 26, 2013

        It is always a blast. This was also a church camp and there were also loads of people from our church camping at the same group site. It was awesome!!

        Reply

    • Anya
      August 26, 2013

      Hi Natasha, thanks for sharing your family holiday… Looks like you all had a wonderful time.
      Your mums soup look wonderful… Can’t stop thinking about it.
      Do you have the recipe ?

      Reply

    • veta
      August 25, 2013

      Thanks Natash for sharing…. great pictures, beautiful families and a looks like u guys had a blast 🙂

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        Thanks Veta 🙂 It was really nice. The mountain of laundry was well worth it!

        Reply

    • Olena@iFOODreal
      August 25, 2013

      Great photos, Natasha, especially the moon and the starts ones. You definitely had lots of “toys” and kids while camping.:) And your camping looks like glamping – the stove, the crepes and hair salon LOL. Great times! We went camping 6 times in the last 3 months and I’m sooooooo done for this year LOL. Packing, unpacking, laundry, dirty messy kids…So ready for Christmas and peach pumpkin bread bars.:)

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        6 times!? WHOA! yeah I’m ready for fall. Peach pumpkin bread bars? YUM! That sounds awesome.

        Reply

        • Olena@iFOODreal
          August 25, 2013

          yeah, kinda got excited with the new trailer…too excited! done, done, done for 2013.:)

          Reply

          • Natasha
            natashaskitchen
            August 26, 2013

            New trailer huh? That’s pretty exciting! We slept in a tent this year with a heater but we were in my parents RV last year and it was quite nice!

            Reply

    • Sarah | The Sugar Hit
      August 25, 2013

      Your little people are so cute!!! And the weather looks wonderful!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        The little people is truly what made camping so great! 🙂 Thank you Sarah.

        Reply

    • Jill
      August 25, 2013

      Where is this beautiful place? I have travelled a lot, & this place looks so great.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        It’s Warm Lake in Idaho.

        Reply

    • Olviya@servingsisters.com
      August 25, 2013

      I LOVE camping! Your trip looks a little like our family camping trips…nalisniki and all!:)

      Your camera IS awesome! I’ve never been able to get the stars.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        It seriously took 30 seconds to capture the shot and we used a tri-pod. My husband is the one who took the photo. Honestly I wouldn’t know where to start! He watches alot of tutorials on the camera. Aren’t nalisniki the bomb at camp?

        Reply

    • Liz
      August 25, 2013

      Beautiful pictures – thanks for sharing. I know you had a wonderful time. Keep smiling.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        Thanks Liz 🙂

        Reply

    • Carole
      August 25, 2013

      I never wanted to go camping, but after seeing this looks Fun!!!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 25, 2013

        It is super fun. We only go once a year though. It’s tough to get everyone together, but when we do, it’s a blast 🙂

        Reply

    • Sveta
      August 24, 2013

      Looking forward to next year, camp never disappoints

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 24, 2013

        I know it! I loved how it was longer this year. It was so nice to relax in the woods.

        Reply

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