We took our first camping trip of the season this weekend. The girls hate to miss Activity Days, so we
didn’t head out until after 5:00 on Thursday night. Ben wanted to go to Mantua Campground and the
rest of us didn’t really care, so that’s where we went. We found a great little spot right by the
river with a good amount of space, some privacy, and about 17,000
mosquitoes. Nate set up camp while Elise
and Abby took cover in the trailer and Ben, Emily, and I made an emergency trip
to Brigham City for some bug spray. Once
we were all sufficiently covered in DEET, we had a great time.
Here are the fun memories from this trip:
- Seeing three deer on the hill coming back from Brigham City
- The kids sliding down the steep hill on their feet/bums
- Playing Boggle, Ticket to Ride and a never-ending game of Phase 10
- Emily and Ben using 27 matches to start the fire
- Scouting out all of the best campsites so we know which one to reserve for next time (and getting scolded by the grumpy, chain-smoking camp host)
- Catching Box Elder bugs in the Boggle cube (aka “extermination cube”) to get them out of the trailer; we’re not sure how they were getting in, but they were EVERYWHERE
- Playing the Geography ABC game round the fire, making s’mores with star marshmallows, and teaching the kids a few new camp songs
- Cooling off with a cold water foot bath in the cooler
- Abby doing chubby bunnies with grapes
- Watching a squirrel lick the leftover pancake batter out of the bowl
- Going “down in the river to play”
- The kids (mostly Elise) making up a song called “Chill Pill” that they dedicated to and performed for their mom
- Emily’s ankle swelling up to twice its normal size because of a mosquito bite
- Abby bringing home a small zoo . . . a caterpillar and a giant slug (named Jabba); she was disappointed we wouldn’t let her bring the squirrel too
And, my two favorite quotes of the weekend:
Ben- “It’s not a bad word; otherwise Mom & Dad wouldn’t
be saying it. Well, maybe Mom.”
Abby to Mom- “I can snuggle you… if I plug my nose.”
Abby to Mom- “I can snuggle you… if I plug my nose.”
