Happy Campers

All of our kids have been camping before they were four months old. Cru was a month overdue. So we jumped on the chance to go camping out on the Kaibab...even though it was only for one night.

Cru was such a champ!

Seth, Lee Ann, McKenna, and Cambria. I didn't take this picture. I was SO bummed that I didn't see this little cottage...that old wood would have been PERFECT to take pictures against. Oh well, my kids looked like orphans anyway...

The place we like to camp is right next to this big natual "bowl" The kids love to run through the meadow and look for fossils. My niece took these pictures of the kids...I "stole" them off of facebook!

Katy would not allow us to call her boots "cow boots." They were her "camping boots."

Her face cracks me up. Nicole said it was a pretty heavy rock.

Cru was fascinated by Daddy's LED lantern. This thing is SO COOL! It doesn't get hot at all, and you can turn it on and off from as far as 30 ft away with a remote control! Totally slick!
Missy MaK wanted nothing more than to go on the four wheeler. We have video of Seth riding the four wheeler when he was not quite two. He was a significantly better driver than MaKaty is. But what she lacks in talent, she makes up for in focus.
Serious business. The little for wheelers are equipped with a kill switch at the back, attached to a rope. If she was heading a little off road, or going too fast (she has sort of a lead thumb)...all Rick had to do was pull the rope, and the engine died.

Bentley is just the cutest. Even with a dirty face!

My sister, Marcie had found these tie dye kits on clearance, and brought them out for the kids to do. Hannah and Seth made t-shirts, while MaKaty made a handkerchief.
Hannah thought of her design all by herself. It turned out super cool! Seth added so much dye to the shirt sleeves, but they look awesome! McKenna tie dyed her hand. Hanging out to dry...My cute parents, cleaning up from breakfast.
Here's Cru doing what Crus do best...looking cute!

Nicole took this picture of my dad talking to Cru. I love it.

Sweet Kate, with bed head.

So I did her hair...........and then she did Chloe's. And Chloe let her.

I stayed at camp with Katy and Cru, and Rick took the big kids and went off on another adventure with my dad. This observation tower houses some weather equipment, and is a look out for wildfires. It was 125 ft tall, and had 151 steps. Had I known that my children were up that high, I might have had a heart attack, but I was blissfully unaware. They climbed a similar tower last year when we came camping, but somehow this one was so much scarier! At any rate, they survived, and were very proud!

Seth and my dad...

A view from the top...

My dad had the brilliant idea to drop his hat off the top of the tower, and let the kids watch it fall all the way to the ground. It fell about 20 feet, and lodged in a tree. Oops.

Just so you know, the stairs are completely encased in chain link, so it would be pretty hard to fall, but still...

Oh Hannah, you make terrified look so cute!

Back at camp...I was getting a little annoyed at Seth...he was wild and crazy, and wanted only to stick stuff in the fire, so I was looking for something to occupy him. I sent him and Bentley on a scavenger hunt into the forest. They were to find a walking stick, a red rock, and the biggest pinecone they could find. Here is Seth upon his return.

And Bentley came announcing that he found the perfect walking stick.

For a Giant, maybe. Cute boy.

In the interest of full disclosure...it was not all happy camperific. It was quite possibly the longest night of my life. Lets just say that our "6 man tent" does not translate into "1man, 1woman, two kids, one portacrib, and our Human Tornado named MaKaty." And poor Cru caught some kind of virus. He cried the entire drive home, and spent the next 3 days with a fever. Poor guy. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I am always glad that we did it!