Here is the story of The Worst Camping Trip Ever!!

Our friends Rachel and Matt asked us to join them on a one night camping trip. It seems when anyone asks we have something preplanned so we thought we would jump on the idea of getting our camping feet wet prior to our big camping trip in Tahoe in July. Well in hind site this wasn't the best idea.

Through the photo journey I am about to take you on you will see what seems to be a great, fun, and exciting camping trip for any families first trip...keep following the photo journey and you will see where everything went wrong.

We headed to Canyon Creek camp grounds on Friday mid day. We got there around four to find all the camping spots taken. Fortunately the next camp ground had one spot that people were trying to save and who graciously gave it up. This was important because if you don't have a campsite with a fire ring you cannot have a fire. This would have been a major disappointment to my children who had been talking about grilling wienies and making s'mores since we started this adventure. So thank you to the guys who gave up the spot (by the way their friends no showed so I shouldn't feel bad).

Since we were going to Canyon Creek and their website said you needed four wheel drive (you don't) we decided to take the 4 Runner. Keep in mind we are used to packing the van and fitting anything you may need. Well Scott put his mask design skills to the test and was able to completely pack everything we needed.

The nice thing about the van is that the dog fits comfortably in there with the kiddos. Not the same situation in the 4 Runner as you can tell they were tightly packed in. Poor dog had no room, she ended up laying on Kylee most of the way there.
When we arrived our friend Rachel was still feeling sick from what we thought was food poisoning (nope the flu). Well we all got settled and put together our tents and set up camp. Kona was liking being outdoors (until it got cold, big chicken).

Our Friends Rachel and Matt with their baby Kalaya.

Beautiful Kalaya grubbing on graham crackers.

Let the weenie roasting begin. The kids really enjoyed cooking their own food over the fire. Nathan was totally into it. He even decided to fore go the hot dog bun and eat straight from the stick, that is until our little picky eater realized it tasted like wood. Well at least he thought it did, really it was just BBQ taste. So he ate a plain bun and Kylee grubbed.

Onto the real reason to go camping. S'mores!! Rachel and Matt brought the huge marshmallows you have seen out at the store. They were crazy big!

Aren't they huge!!

The downside to the unnaturally large marshmallows is that they apparently catch fire really easily. Kylee was roasting her first one and it barely caught fire (you know like you want it to so it gets that really good crunch) so I told her to pull it out and blow on it. The whole thing was engulfed in flame and turned to dust almost immediately. We were a little more ginger with our marshmallow roasting after that:). Here is Kylee with only the stick to show for her roasting ability.

Of course Nathan is in heaven, sugar on a stick and you get to put it in a fire and then eat it, heaven on earth!! I guess only hot dogs taste like wood when they come out of the fire:).

Here is Scott grubbing on the gigantic marshmallow. They actually made really good albeit messy s'mores. They were a big hit all around.

Everyone was so happy to get into sleeping bags and test out our camping skills. This is the first time the kiddos have ever been in sleeping bags outdoors all night. Even though Nathan's eyes are closed I really like this one of Scott and Kylee.

All set to go, at this point it is still the greatest camping trip...

Okay so any of you that know Kona know that she is probably the most babied dog that ever lived. This has served us poorly in preparing her for a camping trip. The dang dog wouldn't go potty in the woods, she wouldn't sit, let alone lay down on the cold dirty floor. She is typically passed out on the sofa at home by 8pm after a few evening dog naps. So by 9:30 when we went into the tent, after 20 minutes of walking her around trying to find the perfect potty spot, she found the first sleeping bag and collapsed onto it in a deep snoring sleep. We covered her with a Star Wars blanket and prayed she was down for the count (not so much).

So here is when the nice camping trip ends and the worst ever camping trip begins. Sorry for the lack of photos from this point on but we really didn't want to document the remaining of the trip. So come 5am Kylee wakes me up and says I think I am going to throw up, so I jump up and run out of the tent and grab some garbage bags out of the 4 Runner. Well this gets Kona up and crazy. She starts running around the tent and of course stepping on Nathan's head. Meanwhile I give Kylee the bag and she is pale and feeling really sick. Nathan starts crying and says this is the worst camping trip ever and he just wants to go home. He begins to beg to go home (3 hours away) followed by Kylee saying we need to go home. Kylee can't throw up so she says she needs to go to the bathroom. We brave the freezing cold and walk to the potty...on the way she throws up in the woods. The worst part is that the camping grounds are in a valley that echos around all the camp grounds, well I am sure everyone can hear her throwing up. Ugh! We make it back to the tent and Kona is still going crazy so Scott takes her out for a potty trip. Meanwhile I give Kylee the bag and she sits up sick for the next hour while I pull Nathan in my bag and get him back to sleep, and keep myself warm:). We last until about 8am before I give up and get out of the tent to find our friend Matt sick with the stomach flu as well. This flu spread so quickly. So we packed up and got the heck out of there before anyone else got the flu. Here are some pictures of the drive home.

Kylee and Kona snuggled up, you can see her garbage bag tucked under her arm. I will say she is quite the trooper and survived pretty well. Especially since she kept saying she felt like she was going to die.

Eventually Kylee couldn't handle Kona on her anymore so she booted her to the console. I am not sure if you can tell but she has her bottom and back legs on the seat and her front legs standing on the floor board and her head passed out on the front console, poor doggy.

Once we got home we found out just how bad this flu was. It travelled all through our friend Rachel's extended family. Kylee had it horribly the first two days and mild the third. I got it Sunday through today and Scott started with it today. It was awful. I hope no one else gets it. Nathan had it the weekend prior so he didn't get it again.

Now the hard part, I have to tell the kids in three weeks we are going camping for four days and we cannot turn around and drive home (14 hours) if anyone gets sick or wimps out, namely me!

Nathan Turns 7

May 21st, not only were we anticipating the "rapture", we were anticipating a very special birthday for Nathan. We are happy to say we survived both. Nathan has turned 7 years old. This seems crazy to me as time has gone so quickly.

Since his birthday fell on a Saturday I took ice cream sandwiches into his class on Friday to celebrate. Nathan was so excited to have me come and to show off his newly acquired basketball skills. I am not sure if dribbling two balls at one time will get him anywhere but I am just happy he is liking the sport again. Maybe, just maybe, I can get him to play for the city again - one day.

Nathan showing off his skills.

Eating ice cream sandwiches with his friends.
Hot a sweating after playing outside at school.

For his birthday we had a Pirate themed cake and goody bags. This was per his request. We all made the cake together, which I later decorated. Certainly not as well as my mom does, but hey I tried:). We spent his birthday morning together with a pancake breakfast, his favorite. We did presents and then were on our way to a McDonald's lunch. This was also his request. After a completely nutritious lunch (not!) we headed to the aquatic center to meet Auntie Traci, Uncle Tim, Ben, Jake, and Cameron for some swimming. After a great time at the park we headed back to Maricopa, not realizing that the freeway to get to our home was completely closed down, no one in, no one out. After waiting in traffic forever we ended up taking a back dirt road home. So our 1/2 hour drive turned in to almost 2 hours.

Once we arrived home we had pizza dinner and Granny and Grandpa over to celebrate. Here are some pictures of Nathan's Birthday celebration.

The kiddos helping me make the cake. Chocolate with chocolate frosting.

The people at Happy Napper do a great job with their marketing as Nathan has been asking for one since they came out. However they do not do a great job at getting your order right. I ordered the Penguin one and got the Dragon one. Thankfully Nathan likes this one a lot too.

You have to have skull pancakes for a pirate themed birthday.

More presents...

Here is the best of them all, a Mongoose bike with handle bar brakes.

Everyone getting ready for some swimming at the aquatic center.

Ready to go swim!

I really enjoyed spending time with Ben. He sat and snuggled with me; that is as long as I supplied the granola bars and a warm towel.

Time for more presents. He got spoiled from everyone.

Here is my best attempt at a pirate cake, with some treasure off to the side.

Blowing out his candle. Thank you everyone who made his day so special!!

Ash was so over having company. As soon as they left he sat down on one of the boxes and stuck his tongue out at us. He had us rolling in laughter.

Easter Weekend

Although Easter was a long time ago I thought I should post some pictures of our fun Easter weekend. Our friends Jim and Lisa, and their two boys Jake and Justin came into town for the holiday. We spent Saturday hanging out with them at the community Easter Egg Hunt and at Leaf and Feather Nursery. The kids had a great time hunting (just picking up) eggs and playing in the jump houses. I think their favorite part was the petting zoo with the baby chicks. Afterward we went over to Leaf and Feather and visited with the birds and the monkey, who was not on his best behavior! Here are some pictures of our day...

Here is Nathan, with Justin in the background, collecting eggs. They each got ten eggs that they traded in for a bag of candy.

Here is the crew all together with the Easter Bunny. From left to right Kylee, Lauren, Nathan, Justin and Jake (we missed Peter). As you can see Jake was a little nervous sitting by the bunny...hehe.
Kylee loving on the baby chick. She has such a way with animals it is amazing. I tell you Ash and Cali LOVE her. They sleep with her every night.

Oh my so cute! Here is Justin and Nathan heading into the petting zoo. Such cute friends.

Arms still around Nathan as they love on the baby chick.

I guess they thought the chick was tired of walking and put him on the back of the goat for a ride.

Here is Kylee and Jake eating fun dip and being utterly goofy. They are so cute together and have so much fun making each other laugh.

Now they are at Leaf and Feather visiting the cow and baby Brahma. The Brahma loves attention, which the kiddos didn't mind giving.

Itchies Itchies

On Easter Sunday the kids were able to make colored eggs and Easter themed sugar cookies. They really enjoyed it, and so did I. They were really creative with the way the dyed the eggs and made stripes on the Easter egg cookies. Here are some pictures from Easter Sunday.

Kylee and Nathan dying eggs.

I love Nathans tiny hand in this picture.

Decorating cookies. That is a sugar induced smile Nathan is sporting. Kylee is concentrating really hard on her decorating. It paid off because her cookies were beautiful.

The Easter Bunny has a hard job in Arizona with it being so hot. If you look closely you can see that the chocolate bunnies are a little melted in the head and ears region...oops. It was very warm weekend. Poor bunny tried his best.

Here is Nathan in the outfit the Easter Bunny brought playing with Kona. Nathan takes advantage of her being still while she is chewing on a toy and he loves all over her.