Zions Camp

Our camping trip came to a sudden end today when we decided we should bail to prevent ourselves from being washed away! We knew that some rain was in the forecast, but a little more than I expected at least fell last night. I commented as we sat around the fire last night that I had had a fun day and would be happy to pack up and leave now, but clearly no one else felt the same way because we stayed.

The rain started to fall at about 2 a.m as I lay in my sleeping bag desperately needing to go to the bathroom. I just thought that I would wait for a break in the weather to be able to go. It came, but not until 6 a.m when I had already had to move Zach into my sleeping bag because his diaper had given out under the weight of pee contained in it. I moved Thomas up onto the inflatable to share his bag with me only to discover that was a little wet in some places because we had some rain leaking in. I covered him up and moved in with Olivia and very soon the drops started to fall on my head. When they started to fall a little more frequently I announced to Spenser that we were packing up and getting out of there. We moved pretty quick and managed to arrive home before 9 a.m this morning, but not before discovering that we had a flat battery for some reason. Thank you Reeds for being prepared with cables.

The last little part of the trip was an adventure, but we did have a fun time with the little group that Christine had put together. I have to admit that I'm not a huge camping fan. I love to be outside and do all of the things that you do when you camp, I would just rather stay in a warm, dry hotel room with shower at night that's all.

We arrived on Thursday night. We were of course the last ones there since Spenser didn't finish work until late and we then had to drop off Cooper and get some dinner. We put up our tent under the headlights and I was less than happy when I realized that I had forgotten to pack the inflatable mattress. I did the best I could with what we had to make it as padded as possible, but we were on some rather rocky ground. The kids went down pretty well, but Zach who was sleeping next to me tossed and turned a lot so I woke up feeling less than rested.

We got breakfast together and then we headed off to the playground for a while. I think that some of the equipment looks a little less than safe, but the kids just like having things to climb and swing on and there are some fun rope swings.

Enjoying Gina's cinnamon rolls

Olivia will only pose for pictures by herself at the moment

Thomas in the tree house

Hanging high

Olivia climbed all the way to the top

Zach loved the make shift bus

The tire swing was pretty fun

She just had to go up there one more time

Sliding with style

Making his way up

Finding a sister to come down with

Thomas loves to climb

Trying out the rope swing

After the kids had had their fill of the playground we went back to base camp and got lunch. The Werners and Hollingsheads had arrived by then and so we headed down to the lake together. Thomas was glad to have a male friend his age if only it was for a few short hours.

Spenser really doesn't like row boats. He thinks that they are a waste of energy because they're so hard to steer and so you often end up going around in circles. He was a good sport anyway and took Zach, Carson, and Thomas out with him.

Zach was interested to see what would happen

Off they go

Olivia just sat on the back of the paddle boat.

She is quite the lady of luxury!

He wanted that thing off as soon as he could

Spense was much happier about the paddle boat

Along for the ride again

I just had to take a picture of this 'cheeky' guy

Olivia enjoyed paddling in the lake. Her day came to a sudden end though when she decided to jump into the lake into water she had no idea about the depth of. She did have a life jacket on thankfully, but didn't enjoy going underneath the water. Spense quickly ran over, but she was up and kicking before he made it. A valuable lesson learned I think.

Olivia loves the idea of eating smores. She doesn't ever eat all that much. Thomas likes to roast the marshmallows, but doesn't actually eat them so he always gives them to Olivia (who in turn eats a few bites and then hands it to me).

Relaxing after some marshmallow roasting

There was some talk of making this a yearly event. I'm in if next year we bring an RV!