Camping!
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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?
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.
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?
There was a LOT of this going on and the children got their exercise. lol.
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:
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.
A typical morning (mornings started off chilly):
Uncle Vadim dressed his niece:
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.
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.
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.
The evening scene: I was probably licking my dusty fingers after a marshmallow. I was the unofficial marshmallow roaster for the children.
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?
And this is the camp site at night (again, pitch black out) Our camera 
Breakfast was definitely the favorite meal. My sister Alla pre-made the nalesniki which were a wonderful treat; crepes at camp? Oh yes!
Here’s another typical breakfast.
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.
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.
Oh look we are pigging out again.
Thanks Bogdan and Nadia for letting us borrow the ATV. Great fun!!
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)
We finished up our ice cream cones while the kiddos ran through a fountain by the beach.
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
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
You and your sisters are georgous ! and family are so beautiful thanks for sharing
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Rose. You’re so nice! Thank you!
Natasha, i heard there is a cool hot springs place in Idaho. Can you please tell me the one you would recommend?
thank you)
There’s one called Gold Fork that is pretty cool 🙂
thank you, my friend)
Thank you for sharing your wonderful holiday pics. You have a lovely family. much luv
Thank you so much Jill 🙂 It felt good to write about something other than food for a change 😉
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.
Sounds like a dreamy childhood! That’s so awesome; 100 acres!!
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…
Thanks Mike, you may check this recipe Russian Piroshki
The images from your camping trip looks amazing. The location is very great and I must you had a wonderful time with your family.
Thanks Jake! It was really nice 🙂
Oh wow! Those are awesome too:)
Looks like you guys had a blast! Family camps are always the best!
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!!
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 ?
We just used what we had on hand, but the closest to this soup (and one of my absolute favorites), is my mom’s meatball soup: https://natashaskitchen.com/2012/06/14/moms-meatball-soup-recipe/
Thanks Natash for sharing…. great pictures, beautiful families and a looks like u guys had a blast 🙂
Thanks Veta 🙂 It was really nice. The mountain of laundry was well worth it!
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.:)
6 times!? WHOA! yeah I’m ready for fall. Peach pumpkin bread bars? YUM! That sounds awesome.
yeah, kinda got excited with the new trailer…too excited! done, done, done for 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!
Your little people are so cute!!! And the weather looks wonderful!
The little people is truly what made camping so great! 🙂 Thank you Sarah.
Where is this beautiful place? I have travelled a lot, & this place looks so great.
It’s Warm Lake in Idaho.
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.
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?
Beautiful pictures – thanks for sharing. I know you had a wonderful time. Keep smiling.
Thanks Liz 🙂
I never wanted to go camping, but after seeing this looks Fun!!!
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 🙂
Looking forward to next year, camp never disappoints
I know it! I loved how it was longer this year. It was so nice to relax in the woods.