Camping in Utah

We left for Utah at 5am on Friday, August 21st. The girls did pretty well on the trip. Eleanor amazed me, entertaining herself most of the time and even helping Phaedra stay cheerful. I had bought Eleanor a few new coloring books and colored pencils and markers. She wasn't allowed to use them until we were on the trip, so she was excited for that. We got a batch of hand-me-downs from a friend just before we left, and they gave us a backpack that was perfect for holding all of Eleanor's new stuff. I also had gone to the library and checked out a bunch of books for her to look at in the car. She would look at something for a while and then ask for something else out of her backpack. Phaedra enjoyed tossing her stuffed bunny from person to person. She was pretty good and getting it up to the front seat. We all cracked up over that.

We made two long stops along the way and one urgent, Phaedra-can't-take-it-anymore stop. Both kids did really well, considering. Toward the end of the trip, Phaedra really started screaming, and I tried everything to calm her down. Eventually, the thing that did it was a big chunk of apple for her to gnaw on and play with. The next morning, I found that one of her top teeth had cut through the gums (her top left, I believe), so that might have been the reason for the screaming. Poor girl.

The first night, we stayed at my sister's house. Eleanor tried to have a sleepover with her older cousin, Grace, but she ended up crying for Mommy and came to sleep with us. It had been a long day, and we hadn't done much of her usual bedtime routine to get her settled.

The next day, we hopped back into the car and drove out by Strawberry Reservoir to camp with the whole family. My dad was out there with his camper, and it turned out that all my siblings and my Aunt Kathleen were able to go meet there for a camp out with all of us together. The camp ground had a playground that all the kids enjoyed.

Phae liked playing in the sand.

Eleanor is always happy with a shovel in her hands.

She even looks prissy scooping dirt. Such a girly-girl!

Callie and Ethan.

Grace.

Eleanor and Sam, sticky with watermelon.

We got to celebrate birthdays for Austin (15) and Isaac (4).

Austin enjoying his birthday cupcake with candle still burning.

Dads and babies. Paul and Grant like talking politics together.

Isaac opening his cape (last minute, plastic bag wrapping).

Kenzie, Eleanor, Callie, Grace.

Eleanor got to sleep in the girl tent with her cousins (Kenzie is actually her aunt). We did more of a familiar bedtime routine for her, and I think she did well with the older girls there. She loved being able to have a sleepover with the girls. They slept in a tiny little two-man tent that I used to sleep in when I was little.

It rained that night. Grant and Phaedra and I slept in a borrowed tent.

Some other things that happened were fishing, the kids got to decorate sun visors and choose prizes from a drawing Grandma Sheila put together, Austin enjoyed sneaking up on me and scaring me out of my wits, and our camp had 4 raccoons sneaking around the outskirts. It was a really fun first day in Utah. Stay tuned for more!