Sunday, July 13, 2008

She's A Camper!

What dirt?

Don't look too close at the fingernails

A leisurely stroll..

Baba chair, Mama chair, and Baby chair

More leisurely stroll
Lots of room on the inside

Emma had her first real camping adventure this week. We spent one night under the stars (in a tent) up in the mountains just past Payson, Ut. We had a great time, and Emma did swimmingly. As you can tell from the photos, 3 year olds are dirt magnets when in the hills. But what the heck, everything hoses off just like new.

We arrived at the campground on Friday around 2:30 PM to set up camp. There are a dozen or so camp sites, and we got the best of the bunch, as the place was empty. Nicely situated in the trees, and a level place to pitch the tent. Emma had fun watching Denny and me try and remember how all of the tent posts went, and quickly got the hang of opening the door zipper to get in and out. We hadn't been camping for a couple of years, so it took us some head scratching to remember where all of our stuff went. All in all, it turned out quite nicely if I say so myself.

We went for a quick hike to see some of the sites, and returned to fix dinner. Burgers, potato salad, and the ubiquitous can of camping Pringles. Yum. A fire was started, even though it was still light, and we sat around the campfire until we had "smores worthy" coals. Nothing like smores and Fresca, I always say. Emma was pretty tired by that point, and went to bed (sleeping bag) and fell asleep around 7:30 PM. Nice. Denny was lamenting the stark lack of trashy magazines, so I was dispatched 10 miles or so into town for a couple of literary gems.

Upon my return, Denny read until the sun gave out, and we sat by the fire for a while. It was nice. By then most of the spots had filled up, and we were a fine little camping community. We turned in and slept until around 6:00 AM. Emma woke up and wanted to know where I was. I already had a fire going, so she joined me by the fire wrapped up in her blanket and my coat drinkng hot cocoa for an hour, while mama got some extra shut eye.

We broke camp, packed up everything and headed back to civilization. A quick experience that only whetted our appetite for a two-day camp before the season ends! OK then

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great camping experience. Yes..who cares about a little or a lot of dirt if the little girl is supremely happy! Emma is cute as always:)

Sister~Mom said...

love the pics! fun camping experience it sounds like.

Anonymous said...

Smores, Quench and trashy magazines, who could ask for anything more. Hope Emma doesn't develop a dread of the sound of camp tent zippers; it has been known to happen in the family.
Thanks for the update.
G&G Hiatt

Anonymous said...

Strike "Quench". Insert "Fresca".
Memory's not what it used to be.
RGH

laurel said...

I love that first picture. The look on her face is priceless. I am still laughing that you had to go get "trashy" magazines. Funny. Glad you had a great time!

Peggy said...

You guys are really just too cute. You are all so lucky to have each other!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh, camping! I'm so proud of you that after it was over you are actually planning to go again! We are so lucky to live where the camping is easy and the scenery is so dang gorgeous - and as always, Emma is the star of the show - thanks so much for all of the pictures and updates! The last time we went camping as a family was in 1984, and Amy was a little younger than Emma. We camped at the Oregon Coast and had a glorious time. Amy thought the tent was a huge crib and from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. she spent a good portion of her night walking on top of us us while we were sleeping - and we never went camping again after all those years of collecting equipment!
XO
Aunt Barbie

Ryan and Mindi said...

Haynie's I miss you guys so much!!!! Emma is so big and so cute! Looks like you guys had so much fun camping. Well if my mom hasn't passed on my blog to you guys here it is lastdayofapril.blogspot.com

I hope everything is going well. Lots of Love,
Mindi

Anonymous said...

Yes!!! The family camping begins. Mom and dad, thanks for taking us camping so much! Those are the best family memories and our own kids' best family memories. Barbie, I remember you telling me that Amy was so happy to identify everyone when you were al trying to sleep ("oh, Tony, Tony!") in her baby voice. The first time we went with our family Russell was still in a car seat and he would just crawl around and eat dirt while we were getting the tent up, so we took the car seat out of the car and strapped him back in it and held him hostage until we were through. Y'all come up here sometime and we'll go campin'. The Olympic peninsula is stunningly beautiful.
Julie

Anonymous said...

ok, ok, add the extra "l"