Do you remember our fabulous monthly week long vacations, aka our Grand Adventures? If not, check out this post for the explanation.
Our Grand Adventure for May somehow got very out of hand. It all started on the train ride on our last Grand Adventure, when out of nowhere Sweetheart said that she really, really, really wanted to go camping. I wrote this post back in 2009 and my view on camping hasn't changed, except that I am recognizing more and more how good it is for my kids, so that whole part about refusing to do it has pretty much gone out the window. Silly kids!! Blah. So of course I groaned inside when she said this, but soon we had created a plan that our Grand Adventure for May would be "camping." We made a plan to set up our teeny two man tent in the basement and let the girls sleep there, then go up the canyon the next day and hang out and cook yummy food up the canyon. That's good enough, right? We decided to do it on Memorial Day Weekend.
And then I got thinking. Sometimes I think too much, it seems. Marquis's parents always go to Kodacrome Basin for Memorial Day, and they jokingly mentioned that their friends weren't going this year so they had a spot open. Then I started to get worried that with everyone playing in the canyons there wouldn't be room for us. Friday morning those thoughts increased and soon I found myself asking people some what if questions. To Marquis: What if we just went with his parents after all? To his parents: If we did go, what would we need? And before I really knew what happened, it was Saturday morning and we were all loaded up to go camping.
This is what two very excited girls look like:
Sweetheart was so excited even after a four hour ride in the car that she proceeded to unload all but the heavy stuff all by herself.
And then it started. One of the things I don't like about camping is the dirt, and Kodacrome Basin seems to have more dirt than most places, very red, sticky, fine dirt. Within just a few minutes the girls had a fine dusting head to toe, and I decided that we were already there, there was just no possible way my girls could get any dirtier than they were right then.
And then they did this:
"Cleaning" the campsite probably added another 3 inches or so to the layer of dirt in their hair. And I decided that for real this time, there was so way they could get any dirtier.
And then Marquis's mom made a cobbler and her helpers gladly helped clean out the bowl for her.
So it was final. There was just no possible way they could get any more dirty, not a chance!
Then we rode some horses around for awhile. My sweet sister-in-law found this pool noodle into a horse idea on Pinterest before we went camping last year, and it was such genius that we made sure pool noodles were on the list this time, too!
(Please look at the adorable expression on Princess's face and not whatever I'm doing with mine.)
And then my girls did this:
I had been doing pretty well with the whole camping thing up until this point, but when they did this, I had to tell Marquis to go take some video because I just needed to sit and breathe and pretend I was in a nice clean hotel room somewhere with room service soon to be delivered. Breathe in, breathe out.
And there is no possible way to get any dirtier than that, right? No chance! That was for sure the end point.
S'mores, anyone?
So, the S'mores incident really was the limit, because we were in a campground that had hot showers (thank goodness!), and I took those sticky girls off to get cleaned up before bed. Then they had a nice cuddle with their grandparents as we watched the sun go down.
Soon we were off to bed, having survived our first day of camping. I have lots more pictures, so part two will be coming soon!
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