We love camping

Both Ian and I were born to camp. Our parents before us, and their parents before them (I'm assuming this about Ian's grandparents) and on through the generations, believed camping was a great family pastime.  So naturally, we decided going camping for the 4th of July with a three year old, a one year old, and a six month pregnant lady for four nights would be a good idea...and it was!!!!

It was glorious. We went to Trial lake (in the Mirror lake area) and spent five days away from the 100+ degree heat of the Salt Lake valley. People commented about how impressed they were that I was camping while so obviously pregnant....but I submit that I will take four nights on a leaky air mattress over that awful heat any day!!... Even though three of the four nights had rain.  The first night, the kids were cold, since they don't stay in their sleeping bags very well, so Ian and Mara went to Kamas and picked up some extra blankets. We were warm from then on :) 

On the second night, the rains fell softly, but they were still wet. Even seasoned campers like us can forget to tuck the ground cover under the edge of the tent, and we ended up with a river running through the middle of our tent in the morning.  It just got caught between the tent and the tarp, and had no where to go but inside.  

So we dried it, tucked the tarp under, and stayed perfect dry for the amazing thunder and lightning storms the next two nights.  Have you ever been in a tent while lightning was shooting across the sky? It makes the tent glow....absolutely beautiful!!

The basic daily routine went like this: we woke up between 7 and 9 everyday- fantastic, with the sun streaming into the tent- and it got later every morning! After breakfast, We went to the lake to throw rocks and get our feet a bit wet. 

We played for an hour or so and headed back to the camp to make lunch. 

Did I mention how peaceful and scenic it was? 

Lunch was delicious, and quickly devoured by our little animals. On a side note, we had a real live woodland creature munching on our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during Levi's nap one day. We were having "quiet time" and were visited by a cute little chipmunk!! He just hopped up on the table, nibbled the peanut butter, and scampered up a tree :) Wish we had our cameras for that one!

Levi took his daily nap willingly, but wore significantly less than normal. It was stuffy inside that tent!!

Mara enjoyed quiet time, if only for the extra treats she enjoyed while Levi napped. 

After nap time, we headed back to the lake.  Daddy skipped rocks, 

The kids sailed their boat in the little cove that we built for them out of rocks,

And we singlehandedly filled the lake with the amount of rocks we threw in. 

But the kids were in heaven with all of the outdoors and freedom.  

After the lake, we made dinner and the kids played together.  It was really cool to look over and see them playing together- sometimes with directions from us, 

Sometimes with games of their own,

And sometimes, Mara's idea of a good game...

quickly morphed into something else entirely!

Dinner was amazing. Every. Single. Night. 

On the second evening, before we made this awesome area for their boat, the kids were wading in the water. Levi went a bit too far, lost his balance and went face first into the water. It scared me SO bad! Ian says he was only in the water for a second or two before I "momma bear" ran over to him and yanked him out, but I swear it was longer than that by the time I got off my rock and ran into the water.  We were both wet-Levi completely soaked- and cold (I think we decided the water was about 60 degrees), and since it was after dinner, the temps were getting chilly, so Ian got the car and drove us back to camp. 

The last afternoon, we went in the water on purpose. 

Ian and Mara watched the minnows (Mara likes minnows, but not mean-o's, she informed us),

But Levi didn't last long in the water. Either it was too cold or he could still remember his "dead man float" from a few days before. He played on the rocks, including pretending to sleep, 

but refused to give me a decent smile.  

Eventually he couldn't help himself :)

We saw our fair share of bugs and worms, 

And it amazes me how little we are bothered by them after sharing our homes for a few days...

We all ended up with one or two bites, but the winner was Mara with 34 bites at the end of it all!!

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. We played at the lake one last time, and began the trip home.  Levi slept but Mara was high on all the attention over the previous couple days and insisted we play a game. I spy and 20 questions came in handy, although she wasn't very good at the latter. She could come up with good ones, but when she was guessing it went like this...

...

Ian: is it an insect?

Me: yes

Ian: does it fly?

Me: yes

Mara: is it a dragon?

...hilarious, every time!!

Needless to say, camping was a success- we love spending time together!!