Monday, August 11, 2014

Camping Weekend 2014

                       Payson, AZ
First Weekend in August
We went camping with some friends of Lowell - there were about 30 people total. It was nice to get out of the heat and to see some nature! The kids remarked on how nice it was to see some green and also to climb on rocks, smell the trees and to look for animals. We saw elk tracks and scat and hawks, squirrels and free range cows. We were told there are bald eagles that fly around the lake, but we didn't see any.
  Nathan loved climbing on the rocks and exploring and made some new friends. They caught crawdads, played army, and were just "boys" for the weekend. Also, Lowell bought himself a knife for the trip and then ended up giving it to Nathan. Its a really nice Gerber knife with a flint and sharpener included. Its a "survivor" knife and Nathan absolutely loved it! The boys whittled sticks and practiced making fire.
At the lake, the water was pretty cold and there wasn't a very good place to swim. Lowell jumped in just to enjoy the cool while Chloe, Jillian and Wyatt threw rocks in the water and Nathan caught crawdads.

It rained quite a bit on our trip but our group was very well prepared. While it rained, we played cards and games or read books. The kids ran around and played or hunted for firewood or the perfect s'more stick. One of the other families has a 3 year old little girl who Wyatt played with but he was the entertainment for the whole group. Everyone talked about how cute he is and how silly. Actually, they commented on how good our children are, period. How good they are with each other and how well behaved they are. That makes a mom's heart proud. :) Love them so much.