Camping…

Wow, it has been a while since I've had the chance to blog and so much has happened.  Here is my attempt to catch up...

Two weekends ago the boys, Jack, Jarrett and I embarked on our first camping experience as a family. Jarrett, Jack and I have gone in the past but the boys had never been. The boys had been excited about the idea of going camping since Daddy first told them about it. And after we let them pretend camp in a tent in our living room, we couldn’t hinder their excitement any longer. We had to take them to experience the real thing.

I on the other hand, was the resistant one, I just remember how much work it was to pack everything up, only to sleep or should I say, “try to sleep” outside on the ground with a thin sheet of fabric (aka a tent) above one’s head. I’ve never claimed to be a true outdoors woman and I’ll openly admit, I’ve been known to say that staying a hotel is camping in my mind, but after seeing how excited the boys were, and how gracious our friends Dan and Wig are, I pushed my camping reservations to the back of my mind.

So last Saturday we headed up North and joined our friends who had already staked out a great spot. They (THANKFULLY) are expert campers and they had brought all of the stuff we forget and never even thought to bring. Dan and Wig had the camp site set and when we arrived they graciously helped us set up our tent and get everything situated. From the moment we pulled into “Cocolot 3” (as Michael called it) or Elk 3 (as the Tonto National Forest calls it) or home for the night (as I called it), the boys were in their glory. Immediately they started digging in the dirt and searching for “treasures.” They immediately found little balls of fertilizer (aka poop), which Michael picked up and asked what it was. We replied that it was Deer poop, which the boys decided was Reindeer poop. After putting down that, they moved onto try to find bugs. They boys had been given a camping light that attracts bugs in the dark. Even though it was the middle of the day they did their best to round up every ant, spider and other insect in the woods to go into their insect light. When they didn’t get enough to fill it, Michael just decided to fill it with dirt, leaves and any other brush on the ground.

Later that afternoon Dan and Wig let us on a nature hike which the boys used a Camping book they had received from Aunt Megan and Uncle Adam and were determined to match up every footprint in the book with one in the forest. Thankfully we weren’t able to match up the Mountain Lion and Bear footprints. However we did see squirrels, birds, dog footprints and even some human tracks. 

That evening Dan and Wig made us a tasty supper of hot dogs, brats and macaroni and cheese! Who knew you can have Mac’ N Cheese while camping. I tell you that is my type of camping. Then as the sun went down we changed into our warm pj’s and prepared for our camp fire. Dan and Wig being the expert campers, brought a flashlight for each of the boys and if there was a toy to have while camping, the flashlight was it! Do you know how many flashlight batteries they could go through in one night of camping? Trust me, you’d be surprised.

As Dan prepared a perfect campfire, we sat around the fire and told stories. One of the stories led us to talking about Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. We did our best to recall the names of all 7 dwarfs but continued to be one short. For several minutes we tried to recall them but continued to miss one. Try yourself to recount them all? I dare you to list them. Finally we were able to recall all of their names and moved onto making smores. Oh were they tasty.

After deciding to call it an early night we all retired to our tents (or trucks- Dan and Wig slept in the back of their truck). We curled up and fell asleep. Several times I woke up in the middle of the night, once as we heard the howling from some sort of animal, many many times because of Jack who was freaked out by every noise heard outside of our tent, and a few more times as I reached over to feel the kid’s cheeks as the temperature continued to drop. By 4:50 in the morning we were awake in our tent and cuddling close as it was a frigid 41 degrees. To us Phoenicians, that is COLD!!!!

Being the gracious, wonderful and generous friends that they are, Dan and Wig got right up and made us a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. Again, who knew you could have scrambled eggs and sausage while camping. I was expecting a granola bar. Maybe this camping thing is kind of fun.

As we packed up the tent and headed back to the valley, we were so thankful for the great experience Dan and Wig had given to us and to the boys on their first camping adventure. I don’t think they could have had any more fun and it is because of how great Dan and Wig made it.

I’m sure camping will become a regular adventure for our family as Dad, Gabriel and Michael are already talking about when they can go again.

Thanks Dan and Wig for making the camping adventure so much fun!

Until next time,

Angie