We had an awesome family vacation this year, so we broke it into 3 parts, the first part is camping in Maple Canyon. We planned to go down on Monday and camp on Monday and Tuesday night and then Wednesday we would go boating at Palisades and then get home Wednesday night.
We got a new sleeping bag for Austin and he was so excited he could not wait to get in and enjoy it.
We had such a great time on day one. We just got the tent set up and got camp settled and then just hung out with the kids and let them wonder around camp and explore and it was so nice. Shantel really did not want to do a fire (it's dangerous, clothes smell like smoke etc.), but I knew the kids really wanted to make smores and did not think our little camp stove would cut it for them, so I made us pick up firewood on the way to the camp. We did not have a hatchet or anything, so our first attempts to start the fire went poorly without much kindling, but we finally managed to get it going. It was the kids favorite thing of the night. They loved making smores and roasting the marshmallows. In fact as much as they loved eating the marshmallows, they loved making them more. Austin would take turns making a marshmallow for Shantel or I. He was particular funny because the stick was actually hard for him to hold out and so he would bounce it around until it would accidentally catch fire and then Shantel and I would help him blow it out. Shantel actually did a really good job. She would hold it high above the fire and then eventually it would get nice and brown.
That night we got the kids in bed and settled and then get into our sleeping bags. We are not even fallen asleep when we heard the storm coming in and then pretty soon it started raining just a bit. Shantel asked if we would be okay in the rain and I checked to make sure Lydia was not pushed against the edge and scooted her a little closer to me and thought we should be fine. Then the storm really came in and was super windy and loud and then pounding rain. Our kids slept right through the whole thing, which was super nice and we just pulled them close. After a while, I reached over just to check and make sure things no water was seeping in and felt Lydia's sleeping bag and it was soaked! We did not figure this out until morning, but the kids had been playing by the tent earlier and poking their heads under the rain tarp and it was no longer covering a small part of the tent which left it totally open for the rain to just pour into the tent.
I pulled Lydia out of her sleeping bag and Shantel helped me put her into my sleeping bag. Then a little bit later, Shantel checked on Austin, and his bag was wet (we think from touching the edge of the tent). So she pulled him into her bag. Then Caleb woke up and needed Shantel, so she moved Austin into my sleeping bag as well, while Caleb slept with her. I spent most of the night rotating back and forth from keeping Lydia warm to keeping Austin warm. Shantel took care of Caleb and kept him warm. Honestly, the kids ended up sleeping just great. Afterwards, Shantel and I talked about what a great analogy this is for our family right now. She wrote on Instagram, "There was something profoundly symbolic as we laid there watching over our sleeping children while the storm raged outside. After discovering the leak we pulled everyone in a little closer and held on a little tighter. Here's to pulling our family a little closer and making our lives a place of peace amide the storm raging all around us." I love that and am grateful to have these kids to pull in close.
It was nice the next night when we did not have any rain or wet sleeping bags.
The next day was a big day for hiking. The first hiking was to the bathrooms. It was about 650 feet from our campsite to the bathroom and when schedules don't line up, you end up making a lot of trips to the bathroom. In addition, without any notice to us, they brought in a huge backhoe and tore a 10-15 foot deep trench across the road to put in a new pipe for the water to run under the road. I have no idea how we do not have pictures of this because it was a big deal. They started around 8 or 9 in the morning and by the time we saw what was happening, we were trapped and could not get it. As a side note, it ended up working out great because the kids were happy to play in the morning and then we did our planned hike in the afternoon. All morning we would take the kids down to check on the progress of the workers. The trench was about 1/2 way to the bathroom so any time they needed to go we would check in on it and then walk around through the trees. The kids thought it was great. After they finished we headed to Box Canyon for some hiking.
We have hiked this a couple of times, but with younger kids or others with us, we had never made it to the waterfall at the end. This year we were determined to hike all the way to the waterfall. It is such a nice hike in the shade, even if it is a little hard for kids because it is basically just rocks.
We made it around and through so many boulders, until we reached a giant boulder with a rope attached to help you climb up. I was skeptical about taking the kids up and back down, so we decided that I would go first and see 1) If it was safe for the kids and 2) how much further it was to the waterfall. However, for Shantel, those were reversed, first she wanted to know how much further and then second, how safe it was, she was determined that we would make it.
Well, after climbing up I made it to the waterfall (which was only about 5 minutes more of walking). Here it is:
Yep- that little tricky was this famous waterfall we had been trying to reach. Later Shantel admitted that she knew all along that the waterfall was really a water drizzle that we had been trying to reach. It was so funny.
However, I determined it was not really feasible to get a 6 year old, 3 year old and baby up the rope and back down safely. Shantel was not impressed. However, after climbing up the rope herself (or at least trying while I made her laugh), she agreed and gave up on our quest. We'll go back again when the kids are older and we don't risk their lives to make it to the water trickle.
Even though we did not make it to the end, it was a beautiful hike and the kids loved combing the rock walls everywhere.
On Wednesday, we packed up (thankfully not blocked by a giant trench and backhoe) and went to Palisades State Park to get do some paddle-boarding and kayaking. I ended up that Lydia wanted to spend most of the time swimming and jumping off a dock into the water (sorry- no pictures), and Austin wanted to build a sand castle. Meanwhile Caleb sat and watched and ate.
Also, we figured out that we could tie Caleb's chair to picnic tables and this was so amazing while we were camping, we missed a picture there, but grabbed one here, because it fit perfectly and was so nice.
Lydia also loved climbing the trees! She showed her climbing skills and also showed off some dance moves on the tree. (This part also scared me to death because parts were so high and I wanted her to have fun and explore without breaking too many limbs. It was hard to figure out the balance of provided enough protection without ruining the experience or making her feel afraid.)
Finally, on the way home, as is tradition, we did the Chester challenge and held our breath through the entire town of Chester.
We had a great trip and loved the experience and so did the kids.
