I Took The Kids Camping

By myself! Well with a co-worker/friend and her husband & daughter. It was really great! We took off after work on Friday and drove for 3 hours...it was only supposed to be 1 hour, but we took a bad road & off roaded a bit...it was a little creepy how little the road kept getting & how much deeper the canyon was getting to the side of the road. We stopped when the road narrowed so much that there was no way we would be able to make it. Also the road had deep gouges in it from what looked like run off. I bottom the car out so much that when I hit the dip my friend looked back at me like OHHHHH! Yeah it sounded bad...I haven't washed the car yet so I am not sure if it really IS bad. We decided to go back and so I had to back up on this road and my friend's husband got out and guided me and when the road got barely big enough for me to turn around he helped me out. We drove on dirt road the whole 3 hours...by the time we got back on the grated dirt road Amelia cried, "YOU'RE MAKING ME CRY MOMMY!!" Awww I didn't know what to do for her... :o(

We found a camping spot and got out to check it out...it had WAY too many mosquitoes for us...so we packed it up again and drove another hour. We actually found an AWESOME camp spot! I am glad we kept going. I will add the pictures and the videos I took to the end of this...We set up the camp and then got the kids roasting hot dogs on the fire...Ben also had his 1st smore (without chocolate...I am not THAT brave haha). He told me later, "I don't like it with graham crackers...it's DISGUSTING!" haha We got the strawberry marshmellows and Ben LOVED that! He is obsessed with strawberries. Amelia just ate the marshmellows plain...not cooked.

I just asked Amelia what her favorite part of camping was and she said, "The Puppies!" My friend brought 3 dogs with them...and at 1st Amelia FREAKED OUT! She has always had a fear of dogs. So I was a little worried at 1st and then once my friend had me hold one of the puppies Amelia warmed up a bit...then the next day we played in the creek by our campsite and Amelia saw how fun the puppies were by throwing rocks & sticks and having them retreive them for us. We sat our camp chairs in the creek and had our legs in the water. I put TONS of sunblock on us and Ben STILL got fried! So by noon I put a shirt on him. He didn't like the idea, but I didn't like the idea of him getting toasted. Amelia did ok though...she must have Chris' skin... I put sunblock on myself and STILL got burned! My legs remained white...but today I realized as I showered that my legs got burned on the inside of my knees. I tried to read my book, "The Host," but it was hard with the water & having to jump up for the kids...We had a nice sandy spot, but there were deep parts.

We had neighbor campers that were down the beach from us and one dude kept coming over and he kept telling us where he was going. My friend said, "It's like he thinks I'm his mom or something..." LOL She said they were smoking pot cause she could smell it. They were friendly neighbors. They left for the day and we saw their tents tip over and so we went to pick them up for them...we walked across the rocks that used to be the creek that had dried up and I had taken the kids in their sandles...BIG MISTAKE! I ended up carrying them because their shoes kept popping off. As we were over there we noticed a puddle that was dammed off from the creek and Jen (my friend) stepped in it & she was like, "IT'S HOT!!" And we looked and there was water coming out of the dry rocks and it was a hot springs flowing into the cold creek. Benjamin kept walking in it & I kept yelling at him to stop...it was REALLY hot! He acted like it was no big deal...maybe playing in the FREEZING cold creek all day made his legs numb LOL. Anyway we thought that was pretty neat. Then there were some fisherman standing close by & I thought I would walk along the creek edge instead of across the hot rocks...and the fisherman let us pass and all of a sudden the fisherman says..."hey you almost stepped on this" & it was a snake!!!! He kept saying, "Is it a rattler?" I was thinking he was an idiot because it was a black snake with white spots. Anyway I was glad I didn't step on it. They threw it into the creek. So then I was paranoid about that and decided to cross the hot rocks.

Speaking of the rocks Johnny told Savannah to shake the rocks for treasure cause he heard that the crystal ones sound like something is inside. I found one, but it wasn't quite formed. The rocks were round but smooth & today my mom said geodes are rough around the edges...I will have to let Johnny know that...we had fun "looking for treasures" for a while. Johnny would crack the rocks open with his mason hammer (he does masonry by profession). He finally broke his hammer and we stopped. It was a lot of fun though!

By the end of the day my patience were wearing thin because I was so hot! I was just drained by the sun! So Jen made the kids soft tacos and we made them marshmellows again and then I got them ready for bed. I had made tin foil dinners and I had them cooking as I was taking care of the kids....well I guess they had been in the fire for over an hour and got TOO cooked :o( Jen took the burnt one & I felt bad about that.

(SIDE NOTE) They brought this bucket that was a toilet...and this campsite was BAD for finding a place no one could see you LOL. One side of a tree the road can see you...the other side the creek can see you (you know rafters)...the other side our campsite....the other side the neighbor campers....that was how ALL of the trees were in our sight. Yeah so you had to go FAST! haha ;o)

After the kids were "in bed" I went to hang out by the campfire and the kids would NOT go to sleep! So since I was so grumpy anyway I just let Jen & Johnny know I was going to go to bed. Their girl, Savannah, was sound asleep. I tried meditation on the kids LOL! I would tell them to close their eyes and I counted 20 down and would get quieter & quieter as I counted. Ben fell asleep and Milly looked like she was about there & so I tried to leave the tent & she cried and then I hear Ben hit her! So yeah that was it & I just stayed in the tent with them. I couldn't sleep! It was SO hot...so when I knew the kids were sleeping I got my book out and read it for a little bit. Then I dozed off.

I woke up to the sound of rain on our tent. It didn't rain long and we didn't get flooded so that was good! I woke up again but to the sound of the dogs growling. My friends told me this morning that it was a fox that had come close to our site. And I noticed the bag I had with Milly's messy diapers was GONE...like completely VANISHED. So much for packing in & out...I felt bad :o(. They also told me that there was a light on the mountain and they watched as it got closer to the bottom and I guess Johnny was out of it cause it was 4:30 AM when they noticed it and he thought he was imagining things. Well it ended up being 2 guys hiking down the mountain and Johnny watched them and made sure they didn't come into our camp. They didnt.

We packed up camp today and drove out. The trip only took an hour and Milly again cried, "YOU'RE MAKING ME CRY MOMMY!......YOU'RE MAKING ME SICK!" The road was wind-y and a grated dirt road...made a rough ride. As I got to the point of the city limits my phone beeped 3 times letting me know I had messages...yep I camped with no cell or wifi service! NO FACEBOOK FOR A DAY! LOL We were in the middle of nowhere! It was AWESOME!

I asked Ben what his favorite part of the trip was and he said, "Having Savannah to play with..." They had a lot of fun. We found out that Savannah and Benjamin have the EXACT same birthday! Same day and year. She was born in the morning & he was born at night...so she is older ;o) CUTE!

I can't wait to camp again! Well next week I am taking the kids again to my family reunion in Salmon, ID for camping on the ranch. I am a little nervous because my family won't be there...I will be the only one to represent! I wish I could get Chris to come... :o( Makes me sad that he doesn't want to be a part of my extended family and even camping...he HATES camping unless there is a shower :o( I guess the kids & I will make the memories together...

Ok I was going to put pics & videos up, but I cannot find the camera!! I swear I brought it 1st thing in the house...I KNOW I had it in my hands...what to do?? I guess pray right?