Fall Break and Camping

We decided we wanted to do something fun, low key and inexpensive over Luke's fall break. We'd heard that about an hour and a half north of us there were some great places to go camping so we decided 3 days and 2 night would be just right. David ended up getting really sick the evening before we were supposed to leave. We already had everything packed and several things in the car ready to go the next morning. Instead we took him to the Dr and she prescribed antibiotics for strep throat.

The day were were supposed to go the boys were sad and disappointed and I didn't want to just hang out at home like usual, so I took them to Toys R Us to play and pick a toy and then I took them to Golfland to mini golf and play arcade games. They had a fun time, but next time I'm not paying for myself to golf. I ended up helping them and chasing their balls the whole time! That evening David started to feel a little better so we decided if he was ok enough we'd still try to go camping (almost everything was still packed).

The next morning he was feeling pretty good so we started to gather last minute items and finish packing the car. By 11am we were ready to go and started driving north. It was so neat to watch the landscape change with each mile as the altitude rose. We started with the usual desert - cactus, shrubs, lots of dirt, and then it changed into a ton of huge saguaro cactus and then more greenery with small pancake cactus and then lots of tall pine and oak trees. When we stepped out of the car in Payson we couldn't believe how nice and woodsy it smelled. It also helped that it was 10-15 degrees cooler than it's been in Mesa.

Someone was very tired on the way up and slept almost the whole time!

 We hauled out all our gear and David and the boys set up the tent. Within half an hour of arriving Seth tripped and hit his cheek on a large rock. He immediately said he wanted to go home, but we were able to distract him with a Mater movie (thank goodness for DVD players!). Once he was recovered we set out on a 'nature walk' and explored around our campground. It was so beautiful! The leaves on many of the trees were changing color and we were able to show the boys was 'Fall' actually looks like! The boys were convinced there were bears nearby and were on constant lookout.

When we got back from our 'hike' David started a fire so we could start cooking dinner. The boys were so excited and loved helping set it up and loved throwing little pieces of wood into the fire. We made tin foil dinners and I was surprised that the boys actually devoured them. I've always loved campfire food and I guess they do too! We were all so excited for s'mores, but someone dropped the ball and completely forgot graham crackers and marshmallows. They were on the kitchen counter and I totally spaced it! I think I was more disappointed than anyone. It turned out ok though because we also had popcorn and hot chocolate.

Very enthralled watching the fire. You can see the nice little bruise on Seth's cheek.

By about 8pm we were ready for bed, so we cleaned up and settled for the night. Mom also spaced it and forgot pull ups for Seth and the boys tooth brushes. They thought it was so funny that I'd been so forgetful! Luckily, Seth did really well during the night and didn't have any accidents! It got really cold in the middle of the night (somewhere in the 40s), but we have very warm sleeping bags and we were all wearing sweat shirts as well. I wasn't about to sleep on the ground at 5+ months pregnant so I slept on an air mattress and was actually quite comfortable.

In the morning we cooked bacon, eggs and hot chocolate and just enjoyed the cool weather. As it warmed up we started to clean up and pack up and then went on another nice nature walk and then headed home. We ended up only being there for one night and two half days (about 24 hours all together) and that was actually the perfect amount of time. The original plan might have gotten a bit long, but we had so much fun and really enjoyed this little outing.
 

Since I'd spaced it on the s'mores we made some at home later in the evening. Seth ended up not wanting his, so I just had to eat an extra one ;)