Family Camping Trip

At the end of June we decided to try something we'd never done before... Camp.  With three kids.  For TWO NIGHTS.  Oh yeah!  How brave are we??

Ben found a campground in Heber Valley called Little Deer Creek campground.  It was pretty remote - you have to drive down 10 miles of winding mountain dirt road to get there - but the campground was great.  Unfortunately, we took a significant (accidental) detour when we were trying to get to the campground, so it was getting close to sunset by the time we got there.  But we (read: Ben) worked quickly and got everything ready for us to be comfortable that night.  Of course, he was lucky to have some helpers gathering sticks, twigs, and branches for the fire.  And they were eager to assist with the tent assembly as well.

It started to fee cool before the sun event set completely, and we were so thankful for the fire Ben made!  It was also our mode of cooking our gourmet dinner: le hot dogs.  They were cooked on fancy wire hangers we pulled apart.  The hangers also doubled as skewers for our gourmet dessert: le marshmallows.

Beware the Marshmallow Monster!

In the morning the kids entertained themselves by playing in the dirt.

Poor Thomas will never be the same.

I love how intense Jack looks in this picture.

I'm afraid I interrupted his efforts to become one with nature.

Saturday morning we also took the kids a few miles down a winding mountain dirt road to Cascade Springs. It's a beautiful mountain spring surrounded by the most lush scenery we've seen in Utah.  The hike to go up to the source and back down to the base of the waterfalls was only about a mile, and very easy, with some fun photo ops along the way.  It was hot outside, but with frequent water and apple breaks, the kids survived.

Thank you, Cat, for taking this picture.

Never underestimate the importance of a walking stick while hiking in the mountains.

After hanging out at Cascade Springs for a while we headed to the Wasatch Mountain State Park visitors' center for a picnic lunch and some play time.  The kids played on the playground for a little while then decided to feed the ducks in the pond.  Well, the older ones did.  Eliza just fed herself.  A lollipop.

We had nothing to do that afternoon so we decided to check out a pond near our campground that someone told us about.  It took some exploring to find the pond, and we ended up driving down an ATV trail that was very dusty and too narrow for our SUV and we had to back out.  Do you see all the scratches on the sides of our car?  Yep.  Battle scars.  We're pretty hard core in this family, you know.

We finally found the pond, and a stream.  We explored the stream first, which was fun, despite the FRIGID water temperature.  I didn't even want to put my feet in, but the kids tolerated it pretty well.

Then we let them play in the "pond" for a little while.  Really, it was more of a large puddle, but I guess it doesn't matter.  They had fun running and splashing and panning for... pebbles.  Ben and I loved that they were so happy to play in the water for a while, but unfortunately, there was an insane amount of flies swarming us the entire time.  We tolerated it as long as we could, but finally just had to leave.  Too bad.  And that's the only time we've had a bug issue of ANY kind since we've been in Utah.  I guess we shouldn't complain too much.

My good friend Melissa gave me some great advice before the camping trip: play in the dirt with the kids.  Okay, Melissa.  I'll do it for you.  I expected that each of us would be filthy by the time we came home from the trip, but I made an extra effort go get dirty with the kids.

They had discovered the joy of painting themselves with dirt and mud, so I shouldn't have been surprised when they asked if they could paint me with mud.  I had Melissa's advice ringing in my ears as I agreed... and they were thrilled.

Jack and Eliza needed no assistance getting all dirtied up.  I love these pictures because they made me think of my Dad, who was an Army Ranger.  These guys could skip a good portion of the training to become Rangers, don't you think?

I love this picture of Eliza.  A whole new look for her.  What do you think?

Even after I washed her face off, one eyebrow was stained brown.

She's still pretty cute, though, if you ask me.

That night we had YUMMY tin foil dinners with some canned green beans for dinner, and campfire cupcakes for dessert.  They turned out much better this time than they did the first time I had them.

After dinner there was still some time to hang out before the sun would set so Ben helped Cat put together a little catapult from a Lowe's kids' building project.  I don't remember why we happened to have that on hand, but we were glad we did :-)

Saturday afternoon we were feeling like we didn't have anything to do, and we'd been COLD the night before, despite our many blankets and layers of pajamas.  So we considered just packing up and leaving that evening instead of camping the second night. But I also didn't want to chicken out.  We had never camped for this long and I was psyched up to see it through.  So we just stuck it out and spent one more cold night in our tent.  Fortunately, the kids slept pretty well.

The next morning we put the kids in the car with the heater on as soon as they woke up while Ben and I put everything away.  Then we drove the long way back home and enjoyed some more gorgeous views of the mountains through American Fork Canyon.  We were able to get home in enough time for everyone to shower/bathe, eat lunch, get ready for church, and even arrive a few minutes early.  Yeah for 1pm church! 

And yeah for a fun family weekend.