This post is HEAVY on photos.
If you are not directly related to me and were not on this campout, you may want to zoom right through this.
This week, before school started again, we spent three days at the Heber Valley Camp with the DeMartini side of the family. We had such a great time last year, we wanted to do it again. Because of unforeseen circumstances last year, we only got to stay one night. It was a lot of work preparing all the stuff you have to take camping and then only get to stay one night, so we made sure we were able to stay longer this year. We brought games and crafts, planned hikes, challenge courses, and waterfront activities, and planned on having lots of fun.
Turns out, we played games and did crafts, hiked, did challenge courses, canoed on the water, and had lots of fun. There were fires and dutch oven treats, popcorn cooked over the fire, scat discovered, deer spotted, and lots of running around. The children were dirty, but thrilled to be with cousins, slept reasonably well, and ate way too many treats. It was wonderful to be away from home, breathing the sweet mountain air, enjoying the beauty of nature, and being together. Really, the being together was the best part. I have lots and lots and lots of pictures, and I'm pilfering lots and lots and lots more from Mikayla, Tysen, and Sharae.
Sharae organized a scavenger hunt. She gave everyone a small paper sack with a list of things to find, stuff like a strange shaped rock, something soft, a bent stick, a pine cone, a feather. Then we turned the children loose to see what they could find. In my searches, I found some bones and what looked like bear scat to me. It was bigger than deer poop, but not as big as moose. Not that I'm an expert, but it was pretty cool to show the kids who all think poop is hilarious.
Look at the cool piece of something Brandt found!
Blythe is wearing her "craft" around her neck.
The kids got to string beads onto their very own flashlight.
I saw a deer while scavenge hunting, but I was the only one.
I was trying to climb up to a tree with pine cones for Blythe,
and while I found no cones, I did see a deer.
We did two challenge courses while we were there. At the first, we had to climb a cargo net, cross a swaying rope bridge to the top of a zip line, then scream down the zip line. It really was challenging. It looked scary, and Brandt opted not to do it. I wish he would have tried, but he is a cautious boy and recognizing when he doesn't want to do something. Blythe, on the other hand, is very adventurous and went confidently up the net and down the zip line. I took lots of pictures of everyone, but will edit for space sake (especially as I am actually working on this post on December 26th).
I took video of Blythe at this point in her progress. She made it across and zoomed down, delighted by the adrenaline rush.
Brandt met Blythe at the end and gave her a high-five for being so brave.
He told her what a good job she had done.
This is Grandma Sue.
She made it.
And me.
I made it as well.
Here are just general shots from the first day.
Lots of kids running around.
I brought a box of Otter Pops.
I think we ate them all the first day.
Mikayla's arm.
Her clever solution to hot fire and inadequate hot pads.
One and all are saluting a chair they've run up the flagpole.
I think Brandt's shirt ended up at the top too.
At least, I hope it was his shirt and not some other article of clothing.
We were there on Monday night, so we had a family home evening. We sang a song, Grandma Sue shared the thought, and then we had a treat, pizookies--cookies with ice cream and caramel sauce. Yummy! They turned out really well for being done in the dutch oven.
New day, more activities. Grandma Sue and I suggested we go on a hike, and we had only the little boys express an interest in going. So we set out: Mom, me, Brandt, Luke, Crew, Griffin, and Collin. I was surprised that Collin wanted to come, but we didn't think we were going far, so we took him. We didn't have a map of the hiking trails near our campsite, but the trails are well marked and we didn't think we'd go far. We hiked for a short distance, but it wasn't far enough, so we carried on. We hiked up a ridge and came to a marker indicating a valley overlook. We went and looked. The marker was at a juncture where we could either turn around and go back, or carry on. Mom and I thought the trail looked like it would curve around our campsite, and that there would likely be a trail going down on the other side of the campsite after a little ways. So we carried on.
Turns out, Mom and I were wrong. The trail did go above our campsite as we thought it would, but it didn't turn for a descent as we had thought. At one point it looked as if it would drop down, but instead, it turned up and away from camp. We just kept climbing. The boys were good sports, but eventually they began saying things like, "Are we lost?" and "When are we going back?" We probably hiked for over an hour, sometimes leveling off, but mostly going up and up. It was so beautiful and very peaceful, and we saw a deer in the shrubbery off the trail, but we never were headed back towards camp. Brandt began to get worried and suggested we say a prayer so we wouldn't be more lost. Crew cheerfully asked if we were going to die on the trail, and Luke was worried we wouldn't get back in time for waterfront and canoeing. After much time, we decided to just turn around and go back the way we'd come. Brandt wanted to try and call a rescue helicopter, but we assured him we were uninjured and knew where we were--more or less.
The boys were troopers. We made it back for lunch and waterfront. And while we were sure none of them would ever want to go hiking with us again, when we asked in jest if anyone wanted to go hiking with us in the afternoon, Collin said, "Me!"
Sure sign of autumn
The Heber Valley overlook
Crew, Luke, and Collin who joined me to look over the overlook.
Hikers
Here are a few pictures from the second morning, pre-hike and pre-waterfront.
Bow and arrowing
Post hike, we had lunch and then went down to the lake for waterfront. Last year, we had been the only ones on the water. This year, we were not. But we all went in canoes, and we all had a great time. We had to switch canoes and places in the canoes and there was a bit of pouting from the Barrus camp, but it was beautiful on the water.
I had a canoe full of girls.
Canoer extraordinaire
who then had a pout.
Didn't I say there was some moving around?
Brick is not loving the canoeing.
Some "at the shore" playing.
Another canoer extraordinaire
A lucky few--Tysen, Lyla, and Rowen--got to ride in the rescue/patrol boat.
We went back to camp and did a craft, some carving, a bit of running around, then went to a second challenge course. Pictures of the hang around.
We had a deer come right to the corner of the cabin. She was unafraid, though cautious. When the little ones got too close, she leapt away, but as long as we kept our distance, she was happy to sit near us. She was beautiful.
Lyla wanted to go pet the deer.
A happy family, camping in the mountains.
Lyla wanted in the on the action.
We went and did a second challenge course, this one the large swing that everyone could do. There were many people there, not just us, so one of the missionaries took us over to a different area and had us play a really fun game. We divided into pairs. One person in the pair put on a blindfold and stood in a large area marked off by rope. That person's partner stood outside the ring. On person inside the ring was IT and was given a short section of floatie. While IT's partner shouted out directions, the IT was to try and whack someone else with the floatie. Those blindfolded inside the circle had to get directions from the partner outside the circle of how to avoid being tagged. Those in the circle were to put up their arm so as to prevent accidental bumpings, and they had to really listen to their partner outside the circle. It was incredibly fun. We laughed and laughed as we moved around with arms up, or shouting out directions, and trying to whack or not be whacked. It is a game we'll need to play again.
When we were all done with the game, we went over and were able to do the swing. It is so much fun. Big people not being in the swing get to pull up the person swinging, and all the little kids totally got into that. We had lots of pullers. When you swing, you get so high, it takes your breath away. Everyone shrieked. It was marvelous good fun.
Hard to say which of these is better.
Here are both.
This one might be the very best.
The kids waiting to get their swinging gear on.
And while there are lots of pictures of everyone swinging, I'm only going to include those of my family.
Kent doesn't really like heights.
I'm not sure I'll be able to convince him to ever do this again.
Here are more random shots.
The last morning we were at camp, we all went together to do a service project. The missionaries asked if we were interested in doing something, but we weren't sure what we could do with all the little people. Turns out, we were able to go chop and stack wood, which doesn't sound like a super fun activity, but it was. The camp has a log splitter, and while children are not usually allowed to work it, under parental supervision, the kids all got to take a turn running the machine. The rest of us set up a bucket brigade, or rather a log brigade, and passed cut bits of wood down the row to the spot on the enormous wood pile where we were making our contribution. There was a bit of whining and some sitting in the car, but not a significant amount to make the whole experience unpleasant. After our service, we finished packing and cleaning and headed home, delighted with the time we had to be together in the beauty of the mountains. Here's to next year!
While cleaning up, I found these things on a top bunk in our cabin.
This is the strange collection of things Blythe brought with her camping,
the things she felt absolutely must come with her.
Many small books from kindergarten,
a collection of small things in a jar,
and four Lego friends.
The front park of this huge pile of wood is the pile we made.
I felt, for an hour's worth of work with lots of kids,
we did a bang up job.
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