Creating Family Traditions

Dragging the Kayaks back up the lake's "shore"
which is very long due to the use of the
lake as a reservoir for the Yakima Valley
Agriculture industry.

Last year I started taking one of my boys for a camping trip with just them and Dad. This year was time for my youngest to start this tradition with me.

For our trip, I decided I needed to find something where we could use his new Kayak. I got him one for his birthday and it was a hit. He loves kayaking like his older brother loves mountain biking.

So, after some research I decided on Cle Elum Lake since it had lots of camping nearby on the Cle Elum River. It had an interesting lake to kayak and there are lots of opportunities to fish.

Now, why only one of the boys? Having a chance to spend solo time with each boy gives my wife and I a chance to really hear them, bond with them, and not have other demands getting in the way. My wife takes the boys on a trip to a different city and I take them camping.

I learned a lot camping with my Dad and spending many days fishing with him. He never had to deal with the challenge of having multiple kids vying for his attention. For me, taking each boy on a solo camping trip makes the trip more enjoyable for me (lower stress from sibling rivalry) and lets me spend solid quality time with my boys.

I don't have video of Finn kayaking since he decided he wanted to use my kayak so he could have the camera and since I had a new kayak which he had not used. So, I have some footage (thanks to Finn since he worked the camera for most shots) from Finn's perspective as we kayaked in Cle Elum Lake.

The trip went awesome and we had a wonderful time kayaking, fishing, and wandering the banks of the Cle Elum River. It was a beautiful spot that I will be exploring more.

Hiking the very low Cle Elum River near our campsite.