The Barri (more than one Barrus): Heber Valley Camp 2016

We have spent three (or two and a half) days at Heber Valley Camp with most of the DeMartinis. We love HVC! And we love cousins! We had a great time hiking, canoeing, ropes coursing, eating, zip lining, building fires, chasing ground hogs, playing games, and sleeping uncomfortably. It was all marvelous! We ate delicious food and communed with nature. We didn't see a moose (we all really, really wanted to), but we didn't let that dampen our enthusiasm about being there. I'm not sure anything could have dampened our enthusiasm. The weather was super nice, not too hot, but not cold, except at nights, which were quite cool. It was perfect with long sleeves in the sun and with a sweatshirt in the shade.

We drove up on Monday morning and came home Wednesday after noon. We arrived, unloaded foodstuffs, and then headed down to the lake for some canoeing. It was beautiful on the water and everyone had a good time. I love watching the kids canoe without adult participation. They are independent, and I love that. We saw a mother duck with twelve ducklings, and a very protective mother goose who kept her four goslings so close it was hard to see them. Baby birdies are cute when they are small and fuzzy.

We finished on the lake and had some lunch, blew up mattresses, played games, and then went to do the giant swing at the ropes course. IT'S SO FUN!!!! In addition to swinging, we did a challenge course on the ground--a blindfolded follow-the-rope game where we were all trying to get to the end of a long line of rope strung around trees and up a slope without running into each other or getting stuck at a dead end.

We spent the rest of the day playing games, getting dinner, and hanging around. Brandt and Blythe were each going to sleep in the "boys" and "girls" cabins, but in the end, Brandt opted to sleep in the same cabin as me and Kent. Blythe slept with the Makenna and Ava.

The muscle, pulling us all up to the top.

Brandt, Kent, Grandma Sue, Christopher, and I were all up pretty early. The sun came streaming through the windows and woke us all. Brandt had a couple of scout requirements he needed to complete, one of which was planning, shopping for, preparing, and cleaning up after a meal. He planned our Tuesday morning breakfast, and because he was helping, Crew, Griffin, and Luke all wanted to help. We had them making bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast.

After breakfast, most of us went on my favorite hike at Heber Valley Camp, to Overlook Point (or something like that). It is up a ridge to a wonderful overlook of most of the camp. It was such a beautiful morning, and everyone was really great hikers. Except Lyla. She wasn't doing well, wanting to be carried, and she and Tysen were "rescued" by some missionaries who happened by on quads and called for someone to come get them and drive them back to camp. The rest of us carried on and enjoyed the view.

We saw a couple of deer on our way home.

We saw lots during our stay; they aren't really very shy around people.

Tuesday afternoon we did a second challenge course, this one much more challenging than the swing. It was a zip line. We had to climb a telephone pole, cross another large pole, then zip down. It was all very exciting and unfortunately, we couldn't convince everyone to participate. Brandt wouldn't do it, even though there was an option of doing a reverse pull so he didn't have to climb the pole. Ava got up the pole but was too scared to make it across, and Makenna opted for a reverse pull from the beginning. But Blythe bravely did it. I was impressed with her derring do.

Brandt with Brick and Rowen.

Brandt is so good with the little guys.

I love, love, love, love, love this picture!

Blythe was on the platform a long time.

She must have needed some serious convincing that she could do the zip.

But in the end, she stepped off and zoomed down.

I think that's a smile!

Kent and Brandt didn't come on the morning hike with us. Brandt's foot hurt. Instead, while the rest of us hiked, Brandt and Kent pushed over trees. We had talked all about that before going to do the zip line, and as we got back, Grandma Sue decided she needed to push down a tree. This is completely understandable. Pushing down trees is great fun. Her choice of tree was a bit odd, however. She began pushing over a tree right next to the road into our camp, in full view of four missionary trailers. We weren't five minutes back in camp before an elder came up hauling a chain saw, looking for trees "down and blocking the trails." He said he'd been at it for a while, clearing off the dead logs, but we think he was lying to help us save face. We're fairly sure Sue was seen. Oops!