Adventures with Vivian’s first Campout

Summer vacation went by way, way, way too fast for me.  We had all these ideas of going different places but with my being sick a lot of the break we didn’t really do much.  We decided we had to do something vacation-wise for our kids before Christian went back to school so we decided to try our hand at camping with more than one child.

Jared booked a campsite in Payson, about two hours north-east of us and I planned and shopped and cooked and packed like a crazy person that whole week to get ready to go.

We were enjoying a gorgeous ride up the mountain on our way to the campsite, about 25 miles away from our destination at 6:25 pm, when suddenly we heard the most terrible noise and felt the car jerking like crazy.  I, of course, started yelling to get to the side of the road and Jared was of course, trying too.  When we went off to the side, these teenaged boys stopped behind us and asked Jared if he had a spare Jared looked under the car and said “Yeah, we have a spare.”  So the boys left and Jared pulled out the spare only to find out it was completely flat (flatter in fact than our tire).

This is what our van looked like, by the way.  The tread had completely ripped off of the tire while shredding all of the electrical stuff out of the light socket on our headlight.  The kids were really freaked out and angry that I didn’t want them to get out of the van on a canyon freeway (it’s pretty much like the road between SLC and Park City if you can imagine).   Of course, we had no service, so Jared ran up the road to call AAA while I sat in the car with our upset offspring.  This nice middle-aged woman and her elderly father came and talked to me and the kids for a while and it was very calming for the kids to have someone new to think about rather than that they wanted out of the van.  When Jared finally returned (about 45 minutes later) he said that AAA should be coming in about an hour and that we just needed to wait.  The kind people left and we sat in the car together.  Jared had printed out some camp-fire stories to read so we read them instead in the van as we waited.  It was about 9:30 before the AAA guy finally showed up and because there wasn’t a better solution, he put the van with the kids and I, all on the tow-truck while Jared sat in safety in the  cab with the driver.

I was pretty freaked out and so were the kids but as soon as the lights went out on the back of the tow truck, Christian fell right asleep.  It started pouring rain so by the time we reached the campsite it was pretty muddy and by then it was dark.  The kids from the neighboring areas were pretty excited about watching the two truck so I felt pretty silly sitting up there, waiting for them to lower it down.  Afterwards, a couple of the dads from the neighboring camps came to ask us if we needed help.  Vivian was screaming her head off (remember she’s never really been in the rain much of her life).  So I had to hold Vivian in one arm while trying to help Jared with various tent poles as he set up the tent.  We finally got settled into our tent at around 10:30 that night and Christian slept through everything—including Jared carrying him into the tent in the rain.

The next morning, we made hash browns, eggs and sausage.  As I was cooking Jared opened something with his pocket knife and then left it on the table (leaving it open).  Of course little kids have magnets on their hands to knives so Vivian who was sitting happily in a camp chair far from the knife was attracted across our site to touch said knife and cut herself.  Luckily, it wasn’t very deep but it was right on the palm of her hand so we kept a clean sock of Christian’s on it for most of the trip to keep her hand clean.

Here she is on the swing set at the park at the campground.

While I took the kids to the playground, one of the dads at the campsite across from us took Jared to Big O tires to get a new tire for the van and to reseal the spare.  Their family was really sweet to us the whole time we were there, and I wish we had gotten their contact information.  Once Jared got back, we took the kids on a short hike that was close to the campsite.

I thought it was pretty funny that they called this an Interpretative trail…. it was just a wooded area and it was so close to the town that it wasn’t as easy to hear the sounds of woodland creatures so I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to interpret.

The kids did get a kick out of using Jared’s binoculars which I thought was cute.

 

Here’s the man that helped me make this trip happen.  I did a lot of the planning, but he did a lot of the grunt-work.  I love it that we work so well as a team and Jared is definitely a team player.  I am so glad that I’ve been able to have this guy around for the last ten years.  He’s truly my best friend.

Here’s what my view was for most of the hike, Christian walking ahead of everyone with Jared holding Vivian in his arms.  I was huffing and puffing along.  It’s depressing how fast a body can get out of shape.  I only have been avoiding the gym for a month or two because I was afraid I’d get sick in public but at least now that I was 14 weeks it wasn’t so bad.  It was really nice to hike since it’s been such a long time!

Vivian got the best seat in the house and actually fell asleep for a minute.  I guess she felt safe!

Christian walked ahead pretty much the whole time.  It was hard to get him to stay with us “slow pokes.”.

When we got back to camp, we made dinner and then it started to rain so we went up to the club house to hang out.  There was supposed to a party that evening but it kept raining and pouring so instead, we drove into town and had dinner at a restaurant.

The next morning, we cleaned up camp and the owners’ son and his friends offered to give the kids mule rides (for a small fee).  So our kids were super excited to try riding a mule.  They were much bigger than I had thought they’d be.

Here’s my tiny fearless girl on top of a mule.  She was loving it!

Jared was good enough to walk beside Vivian to make sure she stayed atop of the mule…I probably didn’t need to worry about her trying to get down because she was livid when it was time to get off.

After we checked out from the campsite, we drove up to Tonto Natural Bridge and hiked around there.  The first hike we tried was down to the waterfall.  It was a really short hike but pretty much straight down and straight back up afterwards.   Here is the view at the bottom.

Here was our reality.  Vivian was freaking out and Jared was trying to keep her safe (as you can see there was a fence on the side to keep us safe but she wanted to sit on the fence and was really angry at her daddy for restricting her).

It was a little difficult to enjoy this hike but we tried to take in the view regardless of one members’ attitude.

She finally did calm down after we lectured her that it was very dangerous and that we just want to keep her safe and we asked her if she wanted to get hurt and then she was finally reasonable. 

The hike was so steep that this one was fenced and had steps and metal installed for walkways.  I like that they had made it more convenient except that because it looked easy to Vivian she was pretty mad we wanted to constantly supervise her.

Our second hike that day was an overlook of the travertine wall on the side of the bridge.  It’s amazing to me that my floor is made of the same stuff as this…I wonder who first figured out that this could be someone’s floor?!

 

The next hike we did was the Tonto Bridge Hike itself.  Both Vivian and Christian did really well on this hike.  We made them each hold a parents’ hand which they didn’t like very much but they both walked the whole way without complaint.  I was so proud—especially of my little girl who is so spunky.

Here’s my crew on the top of the stairs headed to the viewing deck.

Here’s my boy on the deck looking under the bridge.  I wish I had a better lens to show how massive the bridge really is… but it was beautiful.  I especially enjoyed seeing the moss covered rocks.

The kids were pretty interested in the view at this point and I found it so cute that they just stood and starred.Here is the water that helped form the bridge.

Under the bridge.  We really were too close to get a good look at the whole massiveness of the bridge.

On the way back on the hike I thought these yellow flowers were so pretty.

After the bridge hike, we went to the overlook of the bridge where Jared stole the camera to photograph my baby bump.  It looks pretty chunky to me.

Here is the view from the overlook of where I took the photo of the crew on top of the stairs to the deck.  Crazy huh?  I was quite freaked out from the height of it to be honest.  The more kids I have the more squeamish of heights I seem to become.

Here’s another view of the trail we had hiked…it honestly did not seem this steep when we hiked it.

Here’s the view of the bridge from the overlook.

There is a hole in the top part of the overlook of the bridge where you can look down and see the bottom.  The kids really liked looking down to the bottom but it made me a little nervous.

The mossy rocks below that I had photographed under the bridge.

Here is a photo of the water that did all this work of making tonto bridge.

A close-up of the travertine cliffs.

After we finished our last hike, we drove home.  Thankfully, that part of our trip was pretty uneventful and we were excited to be home and get ready to start a new school year for Christian.

First time at the Phoenix Science Museum

So I had the most crazy, pregnancy-brained day the day I took my kids to meet up with my friend Claudia.  She had told me she had a pass to the Science Museum and and for some reason, I got it in my head that she had said the Children’s Museum.  I don’t know what in the heck was going on with my brain (luckily, they’re only about a block and a half away from each other).

I am so embarrassed that #1 I was running late that day and that #2 I didn’t even go to the right place in the first place.  I really have to wonder if all the lights are on upstairs sometimes, I’m so flaky and I really don’t mean to be!

Eventually I did make it to the right place and Claudia was very sweet and forgiving.  I’m glad she was because we had a great time there!  There is so much to see.  My kids were so excited that they pretty much did not stop running around looking at all the neat displays.  If anyone comes and visits me from out of town, I highly recommend this place, it’s awesome!

Here’s one photo I caught of Vivian in the little play area for toddlers in the home building section.  They also had the neatest blocks there that you could build basically anything out of if you understand some physics I wish I could remember what they were called.

We went to have lunch at a different place than the café there because the things they offered weren’t very interesting to my kids except for a $6 hot dog.  Christian gave me the scare of my life when as he saw we were picking up to leave the restaurant, he stepped outside to wait on their patio.  Claudia and I were freaked out and I just about lost it when I saw him, I was so upset that he had been so careless to leave me.  He pretty much was acting too independent for me that day and it was driving me nuts.

The only picture I got of Christian was this crazy twirl thing that the kids can spin on to feel the force of the pull…if you notice it’s got padding on it.  The whole rest of the time Christian was going from one display to the other like crazy and Vivian and I could barely keep up with him, he was so excited.  It’s nice to have a super smart little boy except when he’s so excited that he won’t even pay attention to my pleas to stay with me.

Even though Christian was being a challenge that day, I’m glad we went and that Claudia invited us, it was an awesome day!

July 4th 2012

This year for Independence day, I decorated the kids special shirts for the holiday that would be less expensive than the shirts at the store that said the same or similar things on them.  Of course they are so cute, I wanted to take a photo of them in their new outfits so Jared and I took the wagon and the kids to the park near our home to take photos.  Here are a few of the cutest ones.

They are the cutest brother and sister pair!

Can you read what their shirts say in the contrasting color?

It was a really nice day on the 4th.  I went to Joann’s and stocked up on the 70% off faux flowers (with an additional 10% off entire purchase coupon).  Yes.  I’m a nerd and I had been waiting all year for them to have their July 4th sale because that is generally the BEST time of year to get faux flowers for arrangements in my home unless you want more Fall colors.  That evening, we went to Bernadette and Ben’s for a party and it was fun to enjoy them and their friends and family.  We didn’t even watch fireworks because I felt so bleh that day when we got home.  But overall it really was a good day.

The BIG 3-0!

Yes, I turned 30 this year.  I’ve been mourning my 20’s for a little while.  I guess I just feel like I’m suddenly at the age that all my aunts and uncles were when I thought they were “so grown up”.  I honestly don’t know if I feel so grown up….I still feel homesick sometimes, want my mommy when I don’t know what to do, wish someone could take care of me when I’m sick and wish I didn’t have to worry about money….maybe everyone feels this way.  Or maybe I’m just immature.  I don’t feel like I’m 16 anymore, I think I’ve been through a little too much to feel that way and I know I’ve changed quite a bit in the last ten years but it’s seemed like this last decade just went so stinking fast!

The morning of my birthday I got ready to take my kids to the “Summer movie” of the week at the local theater and Jared called me and told me to check outside.  I had been “flowered” I guess is the word for it.  I think I know who did it but they’re not confessing. Each flower had a message written on it.  It really made me feel special, if a little embarrassed.

Jared had asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday weeks before and I said I’d really rather just have a nice time with friends.  So he decided we should have some friends over for my birthday.  It was one of my best birthdays.  It was so fun to just hang out with people that I enjoy the company of.

Here’s Sherrada’s neat creation.  I love this idea for a taco salad (plus it was delicious too)...I actually put together a flag thing of fruit on kabob sticks that I saw on pinterest but it was gobbled up before I got a photo.

It was pretty funny how we all pretty much ate with our spouses but when everyone started visiting there was a guys table:L to R: Mack, McKay, Jeffery, Jared, Rich and Ben.

And a girl’s table:L to R: Bernadette, Jenny, Jessy, Julie, Summer with her little Suzy.

I was really glad that Venetia and Jim made it…though they had to come later, it was great to have our surrogate “grandma and grandpa” here.  Sherrada and her family was able to make it later too…sadly, she escaped my camera…

Julie made me a delicious lemon poke cake.  It was so yummy!

It was so great to spend an entire evening visiting as well as introducing our friends to each other.  I sure am blessed with neat people in my life.  Sherrada’s parents and family stayed a little later than everyone else and we played Quelf a very fun game with a few people.  It was fun to catch up with them a little too.  Though 30 is not an age I was looking forward to it, I sure had a fun birthday to make up for it.  Thanks to everyone who is so sweet to me.