Camping

The order is backwards...again. You'd think I could get it right. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. We've heard that before somewhere, right? Anyway, Nathaniel's brother, Matthew, a few of his friends, our family, and the Santini's went up to Mt. Lemmon to camp on July 10th. I was really excited because I have never been camping with my little family before and I thought this would be so fun. I always had such a blast camping with my family growing up. The difference is, my mother was doing all of the work then...I am the mother now so the planning and prep is now left to me. Where's my mom when I need her? It's moments like these that you understand all that your mother REALLY did for you when you were little. Well, I wanted to be very prepared. It is monsoon season and I didn't want to get rained out in the middle of the night and have to pack up and leave because we ended up soaked. Nathaniel and I went and got all the food ready and we were set for a great time. We got up to Spencer Canyon and it was so beautiful. I felt like I was in Utah or something. There were trees and shade and the weather was fantastic. The kids had so much fun exploring, especially since Matthew had brought my niece, Autumn, over from Yuma so we could play with her for a few days. The girls were in heaven just wandering around on the rocks and trails. It was secluded enough that I didn't even have to worry about them. Nathan on the other hand is so busy. He doesn't grasp the concept of safety or common sense. I don't know if it is because he is a boy and is "adventurous" (hey, I'm on this really big ledge, I bet I could jump off of it since I am still trying to master walking without falling on my face) or if he is just at "that age". He loved things like fire, dutch ovens, big rocks (to eat or to try to run around without falling, which wasn't always successful), sticks, etc. It was exhausting to keep up with him. After awhile of chasing him around, I thought, I'll just put him in the pop up crib...that we didn't pack. Yeah, I had forgot the ONE thing that was my salvation. The kid doesn't sleep without being in his crib, which left me looking forward to bedtime. We had dinner and just as we were finishing up the clouds started to roll in. Luckily we saw it coming and got everything put away, or most things. As Nathaniel and the Santini's were putting things in the van, it started to hail really hard. I tried to get the kids into the tent, but they were frozen with fear. They didn't know what was going on. Nathan started to cry as I was calling to Kate to get her to move and I realized the hail was probably hurting his head since it was almost the size of marbles and really coming down. I put him in and ran like a hen gathering her chicks to get Autumn and Kate. Matthew grabbed Eliza and brought her to safety with him. It hailed for a good 15 minutes or so and we just hung out in our tents. Autumn wanted to know why the rain hurt. When we opened the tent door Eliza thought it had snowed. Moroni, Matthew's friend, didn't think this was a good time and started complaining. He really wanted to leave and it got to the point where it was humorous to listen to him try to con people into leaving...if only I knew what lay ahead I would have taken off running. Bedtime came and sure enough my little guy, exhausted as he was, wouldn't give up. It took over an hour to get him to bed. The girls were angels and went right to sleep. I didn't even have to threaten their lives. Nathan woke up every 15-30 minutes all night. Or until 3 a.m. I should say, when he decided he was awake and wanted to play. He woke Eliza up and she teamed up with him and thought that was a great idea. She tried to get Autumn in on the deal, and that's when I decided I had had enough. I took Nathan out of the tent and Nathaniel took Eliza over by him to keep her away from the other sleeping children. Nathan wore me out so Nathaniel and I switched. He ended up in the van with Nathan buckled in his car seat. It didn't work, but at least we didn't have to hear him crying...well, I didn't. First thing in the "morning" the girls were up and playing and having a grand old time. I was ready to pack up and leave. That was the worst nights sleep I have ever had. I even preferred being in labor with Nathan all night to that torture. At least then there was something to be excited about. By the time we got everything loaded up I was worn out and ready for a break, but when you have kids, you don't get breaks when you call for them. It's only when they give them to you. The exception is my sweet husband gave me a fat nap. What a keeper! There were definitely fun parts to the trip as well. I don't want to be all negative. I loved being with friends and family and seeing the kids have so much fun outdoors was great. I just went into this thinking I was going to convert Nathaniel into a camper and instead it went the other way. I decided I don't love camping at this point in time, but love to day trip up to the mountains. If only I would have brought that stupid pop up crib. The whole experience could have been different. Our campsite. Beautiful, huh? The kids loved those rocks to climb on. I would definitely come back to this site again.
Our crew in the morning. I love that the Santini's only brought flip flops. Silly folks!
Matthew, Nathan, and Kamber. We just adore Uncle Matthew. He is such a fun time! Notice the makeshift tent in the background. Someone forgot the tent poles and luckily they had a tarp to use instead. It didn't slow anyone down...except Moroni who ended up sleeping in the car. In his defense, his sleeping bag did end up wet. I would have done the same. I did enjoy meeting Matthew's friends.
This is right after the hail storm. It really does look like it snowed. Luckily that didn't ruin our trip. Maybe Moroni's trip, but everyone else was fine with it.
Here are the kids playing in the bear box. There are black bears up in the mountains here so you have to lock up all of your food and garbage in here. I think locking the kids in isn't a bad idea either. Nathaniel and I had a serious debate about putting Nathan in there for bed once we discovered we had forgot the crib. We did vote against it, but at 3 a.m. it looked very appealing.
The girls all had little camping chairs that they would haul around with them. They found this to be a desirable place to rest. They played together so well and had such a good time. See, I'm not all negative. They had a fantastic time. Just like me when I was little. I tell you Mom, I have a lot more respect for you and all of your camping efforts.
Here is Nathan the first 10 minutes at camp. He was just out exploring. Let's just say his onesie didn't make it through the trip. It ended up with holes all over it. Boys...