Family Camping Trip

We spent a few days camping with my family this week. Nate and I went up early Thursday morning with the kids so we could get a campsite. We lucked out and got the best spot in all of Perception Park up South Fork Canyon. It was perfect . . . shade all day, close to the river, and three great tent spots. Jody and Kevin got up there an hour or two after us and Holly and Shane brought their kids and Grandma Reatha up around dinner time.

It was a big party. We had all kinds of fun in the three days we were there. The kids had a blast with their cousins. I’m afraid that they will never want to go with just us again. We played in the river, went tubing, raced Kevin’s remote control cars, played card games, kick the can, and murder in the dark, watched the kids sword fight while playing Jedi vs. Sith and Orcs vs. Humans, and had lots of yummy food. The first night, Nate and I decided to try to make Raspberry Crisp in the dutch oven. We are still newbies at using a dutch oven and it showed. It ended up being more like Raspberry Soup. It was still delicious. Jody brought up some vanilla ice cream which made it even better. We made a goal to perfect the recipe before next year.

Jody and Kevin had the boys sleep in their trailer the first night and the girls the second night. The kids were excited for their cousin slumber parties, but they were so exhausted that they were asleep pretty quickly after getting in there. On the first night, Abby stuck with her camping plan of not sleeping (grrr), but by the second night even she was too tired to fight it. She slept for 10 solid hours. Thank everything! Ben still kept things exciting with a little sleepwalking confusion where he thought the toilet was in the tent. Camping with kids is an adventure!

The girls hanging out waiting for their cousins. Abby has started doing this “smile” whenever she sees a camera.

Ben set right out to work getting firewood ready.

Jody watched Abby so we could do a family trip down the river. It ended up being quite the adventure. Ben rolled off his tube and it went off down the river. I tried to run after it while I was carrying my own tube (tricky on those slippery river rocks), and Nate tried to keep all of the kids together with him on the other two tubes. Neither of us were very successful. I’m sure it would have been a funny scene to watch. We did manage to get things together for a second try and a good photo op.

Abby LOVES wearing sunglasses. She looks cute even with her dirty camping face.

Timber! Kevin, Nate and Shane were on a mission to collect firewood. Instead of searching out and gathering stuff already on the ground, they decided to cut or pull down the dead limbs on the trees in our campsite. It was pretty funny/scary to watch at times. Nate was really good at getting the rope lassoed around the limbs. Kevin started calling him Indiana Jones. It was cute when Ben caught on and started saying “Hey Indiana” instead of “Hey Dad” when he wanted Nate’s attention.

Abby wanted to get in on the sword fighting action, so Nate challenged her to a little daddy-daughter duel.

Playing UNO.

Enjoying some hot chocolate in the morning.

The girls made this quality craft project from a stick and willow leaves. They were very proud of their creation and carried it all over the camp.

Our kids have each had a turn being sick this past week. Ben took his turn on Friday. It was kind of a bummer to be sick on our camping trip, but with the help of a little Tylenol, he still managed to have some fun. Luckily he is so in love with sitting and watching the fire that he didn’t really feel left out when he didn’t have the energy to run and play.

The river got the better of Nate’s quality sandals. He fought back with duct tape. It was effective, but not pretty.

Déjà vu.