Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Heber Valley Camp 2017

We have spent the last three-ish days at Heber Valley Camp.  I love that place!  I think it is wonderful to be in the mountains, camping (with bathrooms), being with family, and enjoying all that is beautiful around us.  In spite of the amount of work required to gather and load gear, shop for food, prepare food, make fires, and entertain children, it is so worth it to me.  I think the camp is fantastic, and the time to be with family priceless.  We played games, lots and lots of games, hiked, canoed, did challenge courses, zip lined, swung, ate, and this year, picked ticks off each other.  It was a great time!

Christopher and Tysen and their kids were not with us the whole time because Griffin broke his arm literally one hour after school let out for the summer, and because of swelling, it hadn't been cast yet.  He was miserable, and more especially miserable at night, so the whole sleeping/not sleeping on a blow up mattress away from home did not appeal to him or his parents.  But they came up for the day on Monday, and then returned on Tuesday, though without Griffin who couldn't do anything, and Crew who wanted to stay home and go to a sport camp.  We soldiered on without them and tried to have a good time anyway.

On Monday morning, after our arrival and camp set up, we went down to Legacy Lake for waterfront.  We canoed around the lake, watched baby geese, and enjoyed the water.  I really love to canoe.  I think I say that every year we go, but it's because I really do love it.  There's something about gliding through the water with it quiet except for the sound of the oars, the beautiful area surrounding the lake, and being in the middle of God's creation that stills my soul and warms my heart.  I paddled around with Kent and sometimes Brick, while Brandt and Blythe paddled with cousins.  We had a great time!

 
Maybe Cora didn't have a good time.




My canoe companions








  
Some of us got the message that this was the funny picture.
Some of us didn't.
So they aren't funny.

Monday afternoon, we went to the challenge course with the big swing that everyone can do, even the little kids.  Not that many little kids wanted to do it, but they could, in theory.  I love it.  So does Blythe.  She went twice because some of the little kids didn't want to go, and Griffin had a broken arm.  Brandt goes reluctantly, not to the top, and Kent didn't go at all this year.  I think it's such a good time!

  

 






  




Blythe be all cool; no hands flying


The pulling crew

The hauling Crew

Tuesday morning I suggested we go for a hike.  The day was clear and from our campsite, there was an easy trail access and a route that could take us on a three mile loop.  I had big plans! Big plans for the hike!  We made it not quite a mile on a much smaller loop.  There was lots of whining and complaining, asking if we could turn back, and ticks.  The tick situation was much more pronounced this year than ever before.  The wet winter meant lots of little bugs crawling on us, wanting to suck our blood.  No one was bitten except Brandt who got two ticks at the nape of his neck, where they like to hang out.  He felt them and came to me, saying, "Mom, I think I have a tick in my hair."  Yep, he sure did.  I picked them off without incident, except for Mikayla who freaked out and almost threw up.  I remained relatively calm although they totally freak me out, too.  There were lots falling on us as we hiked, so everyone was in favor of cutting the hike short.

Hiking companions



That view!





Tuesday afternoon we did a second challenge course, this one with a zipline.  We arrived shortly before our scheduled time, but there was another family there who was late.  The missionaries let all of them go before us, and they were a group of 30.  We were only 13.  As a result, we did a low challenge course called the spider web.  We had to get our whole group through a web of ropes stretched between two trees, without using a hole more than once, and without touching the rope.  We also had only 15 minutes to get everyone through from one side to the other.  We did well.  Everyone made it and we only touched the rope a couple of times.

Brandt is not in favor of ziplining, so he didn't participate in the cargo net climbing/ziplining.  Blythe did and climbed well, right up the net.  She is adventurous and brave where Brandt is cautious and appreciative of all his limbs.  Those of us who zipped had a good time.






We played lots of games while at camp: Exploding Kittens, Dominoes, Code Names, and various card games.  We had a fun family home evening and sang lots of songs.  We watched the deer wander through camp and hoped to see a moose (no such luck).  The kids made fire, chopped wood (Danger! Danger!), and threw rocks in the fire and at each other.  The propane ran out on Tuesday as we were beginning to make lunch, but by the time we needed to prepare dinner, it had been refilled and we were fine.  As we were having hotdogs for lunch, the lack of propane wasn't a real problem as we just cooked the dogs over the fire.  The boys followed Guy around, everyone was filthy, and we all slept pretty well, considering we were none of us home in bed.  We had dutch oven pizzookies, popcorn heated and popped over the fire, and lots of time to sit and feel the sun and the irritating sensation of bugs crawling on you, even if there weren't any.  It was a really, really wonderful three days, and a fun way to start off summer vacation.

Evening fireside lazing.