The Great Outdoors

I have had an itch to go camping for a few months now. I keep telling Kevin that I want to do more outdoors stuff like camping, boating, winter sports, etc. Hopefully we can teach our children to be active and enjoy being outdoors.

We went up to Payson and camped at the Upper Canyon Creek Campground. The camp host was nice enough to let us use his camp area with a fire ring, picnic table, and plenty of wood. There was no running water but there was an outhouse. Just how I like it- nice and natural!

Mom took some convincing but she was a good sport the whole time and did not complain. At least I didn't hear her. We are totally grateful they came because Dad was prepared for everything. He is so awesome!

Love these father and son moments!

Joey enjoying the reward of the family's hard work.

This little girl was a natural. She was so good the whole time. She did get cold at night, but she only cried because I kept cuddling her. Apparently I was too overbearing. It was about 80 degrees during the day and about 45 degrees at night. It was cold. Trust me.

They make camping look easy

This sweet little girl, Lexi, loves to pick flowers and bring them to her Mom because she loves her the best ;)

Everybody loves Grammy

Papa resting after lots of labor of putting up tents. So glad for PAPA!

Kevin really wanted to make a fire from scratch despite the fact that we had lighters and matches. He tried the Bear Grilles way and rubbed sticks together. It got hot but not enough. He then just used a magnesium tool and it totally worked. We were all so impressed that he did it. Dad later said, "An Eagle Scout would have used a match." Silly!

Potential Christmas card picture. Its a tradition to have a crying kid in our family portraits. Why stop now?

My wild flowers from JoJo. Notice that the roots are still attached

My favorite part of the camping was the freedom the children had. I was so happy to see them explore, play, get dirty. Its not something that happens every day so I was happy to welcome it. But boy were they dirty. They were so dirty we had to give them a bath one night. Mom had the great idea of warming up water and bathing them in the bucket. Surprisingly they did not cry. Emma because we kept mentioning Dora, and Joey because we told him that if he cried the bear would know where he was and he would get him. So though it wasn't his favorite thing to do, he held in the tears because he didn't want the bear to come.

We took a hike that followed a creek and it was so nice and enjoyable. We enjoyed the view of nature and had a nice surprise at the top.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Very small but COLD creek. Kevin was a hero and carried some of us across.

So when we got to the top, Matthew and Amy found some bones. They found parts of the spine, possible shoulder, teeth, jaw, leg parts, ribs, etc. The Dr in the house was thrilled to give lessons on cartilage and the anatomy of a bone. It was fun to use our imaginations and wonder what it was. The camp host thought it was probably an Elk or Deer.

Bindi Frias- the watch dog. Cute huh?

Trying to cross that creek again

The kids really wanted to go fishing. The creek was stocked with rainbow trout but we didn't catch any. They did have fun throwing their hook in and casting. Just the thought of fishing and being near the water made them happy. Happy kids= Happy parents!

Joey pretending to pounce

The campground had a hatchery that showed us the way they grow the trout, when and how they stock it, and how they are fed. Each section had at least 100,000 in small, medium, and large. It was really neat. Even better if we could have fished there.

Papa helping Matthew feed the trout

It was such a fun trip. Not only was it free but it was in great company. I would do it again in a heart beat. Its a lot of work, but it was nice to be with family with no Facebook, phones, TV, Internet. Ohh the good ole days!

Using Our Imaginations

The heat in Yuma can really get to you. I was really tired of going outside in the heat and especially of going into town to find something to do. We decided to have a day in where we just painted, and colored, dressed up in old costumes, and used our imaginations.

I got on my favorite preschool website and found this great project. It was great because the children were able to paint and it was a project that took a while so it kept them busy for about an hour. We took a paper bag, stuffed it with paper, painted it blue, shredded construction paper, cut more paper, and walla! We had this fun whale! Here is the link if you want to try it or any other project.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mbagwhale.htm

Finished product. Only Joey finished his. Emma lost interest.

After nap, I looked at our library schedule and saw that they were having a balloon guy at 4:00pm. I was so tempted not to go because it was almost dinner time and really wanted to stay in. I am so glad that I didn't! It was awesome! He had the kids completed entertained for a whole hour. He said stories and made balloons to go with them. He chose volunteers and those volunteers were able to keep the balloons. It was completely worth it. I definitely recommend looking into your local library and what they have to offer. You would be surprised at the free, fun stuff that they do.

Joey played the part of the dog in the song/rhyme "There Was An Old Woman."