So on friday we packed it up and headed to the wilderness for some camping. This trip was approximately 1 million times better then
this trip. For starters I remembered diapers... :).
As much as we loved Wolf Creek, I think our next trip will be back up to the Mogollon Rim. We just didn't think we'd get a spot up there on Labor Day weekend. (and a campfire was a must)
Some of my trip favorites:
**Wilson helping set up the tent. Kids this age are just SO helpful. I cannot get enough of this little person and how much he loves to work and help out and put things together and figure them out. Once he got the tent set up he didn't want to come out. He would have been content to sit in it all night!
**Mark and Zina catching things and Zina handling all of them. They tried to catch a lizard - failed. Then they caught two tadpoles, some funky looking bug, and when Mark told Zina to see if the horns on the bark beetle stung - she did! (and they didn't). She loved holding the slimy little tadpoles and when Mark asked Wilson if he wanted a turn he politely said, "No thank you."
**Bark Beetles. The plague of bark beetles. Seriously when we got there we wondered what all of these dead disgusting bugs on the ground were. Well, as soon as darkness fell we figured it out. I took the kids to the bathroom with the lantern and they started their attack. The whir of their wings was really noisy and then smack they would run right into you. I tried to be the responsible adult, but there was a fair amount of spazzing and shrieking involved. Zina would shriek and then giggle and Wilson was scared stiff. The beetles (think cockroach size look-alikes) were attracted to the light so when we got back we put the light in the tent and the beetles kept dive-bombing the tent. SO funny. The kids giggled and giggled. Love that sound more than anything.
**Campfire food. Hot dogs, scrambled eggs & bacon, hot chocolate, smores, puffed wheat squares (one cannot cannot go camping without puffed wheat squares) .
**getting up at the crack of dawn with Mark and Sam and enjoying the sun coming up, the peace, and quiet, hot chocolate, and the smell of bacon cooking.
** After we cleaned up the campsite on Sat. morning we headed to Goldwater lake for a little hike. Usually when we go hiking we end up hauling everyone. This time I told the kids that whoever did the hike all by themselves could have an icecream cone on the way home. Wilson promptly decided he didn't want an icecream cone and climbed on Mark's shoulders. Zina on the other had was determined. When the hike was half way over she was so so so tired and started crying because really really wanted an ice cream cone but she was really really tired. Envision sad, tired, tears streaming down a very dirty face. It was heartbreaking. Unfortunately she couldn't have both - I promised her I would hold her hand and rest with her when she needed it and she did it. She was so proud of herself and opted to get a whole carton of rainbow sherbet when we came home (mostly because we had no idea where to find ice cream in Prescott).
The only things I didn't like were: sleeping on the hard ground - yoga mats don't really cut it. Next trip we are investing in something SOFT to sleep on. The 9pm-4am dirt bikers didn't help the sleeping so much. Oh and when Wilson peed his sleeping bag, but really, we were up anyways thanks to all the noise so we really didn't mind. And of course the mountain of laundry that still needs to be folded and put away... but really, the memories are totally worth the messes and lack of sleep.
Wilson keeps asking me when we can go camping again - (along with, "mom, am I still fwee (three)."
