so, we had a fantastic time camping with the Schoenfelds. We ate, hiked, sat around, made smores, went to the Lehman Caves, and had plain old fun. The kids were in heaven too. J was grumpy much of the time probably due to a lack of sleep (nights left a little to be desired in the Shaw tent). He had a great time playing with Elsie, but every once and a while he would storm over to us and say, "I don't like Elsie. She's not my friend." He can be such a brat at times. Most of the time however, they were great little pals.
We left after D got off work on Wednesday. The drive really wasn't bad. Great Basin National Park is right on the Utah, Nevada border and took about 4 hours with stops for us to get to. We drove through a bunch of little podunk towns to get there. You drive across boring desert and then all of a sudden there is a huge mountain and that is Great Basin. It is right outside a little town called baker. I only mention that because we went into Baker the second day to find hot chocolate and were unsuccessful. The only market they had was smaller than a convienence store.
We got up there at about 9pm. D set up camp and we got the children down without too much trouble. Paige woke up that night and cried for quite a while, woke J up and we just had a lot of camping fun. The only way I could get P to go back to sleep and kind of sleep myself was to keep her in a cradle hold and try to lay down. If I just set her down she started crying again. It was pretty sad. I can say this though, each night got better. The second night it was actually J that woke up crying and the last night although I was up with P a few times, she fell right back to sleep. I dressed the kids warmer each night and I think that helped.
The days were about 70* up there and the nights were probably in the 50*s. It was heaven. Such a nice break from hot St. George.
We ate great...yummy big breakfasts of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage and dinners of Carne Asada smoked over mesquite wood, roasted dogs, baked beans, corn on the cob and fruit. And smores of course. What is camping without smores.
The second day we went to Lehman caves. It is this cool cave full of stalagtites and mites and is pretty impressive. I would tell you more about it except that I left early with the two littlest who weren't having the whole cave thing. We sat and played on the grass while we waited for everyone else.
Besides all this we went on hikes, played games and just sat around. It was really relaxing and fun.
Okay, so that is my boring travelog. Now for the pictures and funny stuff.
Here is out little tent compound.
D ready to take P on a hike. She loved being in the backpack and would sleep on and off.
Playing a littl
e Brain Quest
Just chilling by the campfire.
D and the kids in t
he hammock.
J and is on again off again friend
Waiting to go through the cave. We forgot that it was NV time there and so we were off by an hour.
Adam and Grant. Adam has been Jackson's babysitter for about two years now and J loves him.
Part of the gang.
Me and P. D was in the car with a sleeping J who fell so asleep that he wet his pants. We had no change of clothes so I stood under the dryer in the bathroom for about 30minutes drying his nasty pee clothes. The things we do for our children!!
Audrey is so funny and such a drama queen. I had to put this one in because she was pouting at the time and refused to let us take a picture.
Cute little P...this was her uniform. I raided J's baby clothes to find her some stuff to wear and this is what I came up with...white onsie and jeans. I also bought her some white tennis shoes, but they were so heavy on her feet that she wouldn't even try to walk. I am so glad I threw in her pink sandles at the last minute. She didn't want to walk a whole lot in those either, but it was better that the tennis shoes.
Maryann and me in our twinner outfits.
Lucy
Grant
Mike and Maryann
