Family Vacation - Powell Springs Campground

Nathan adores camping, and since he had to miss out on the Father's and Son's campout this year we decided to make one of our family summer vacations an extended stay camping trip.  It was a relaxing three days and two nights with just our own little family.

We played a lot of hackey sack, and 3  hack whack.

Curtis has loved climbing trees his whole life, and Nathan pretty much considers it a super power.  This particular tree had a snake skin up in the branches and Curtis wanted to get a closer look.

This tree was gigantic.

Our first evening we explored the area around our campsite.  At the top of our hill we had a clear view of Mingus Mountain.

A camping trip just wouldn't be complete without a little gun action.  Nathan is pretty much a pro at shooting the BB gun.

Bracken liked messing with our targets, it really got on Nathan's nerves.

We also hauled our bikes on the trip, and had a few decent family bike rides.

Nathan is not too sure about riding his bike for long distances, but we managed (I basically towed him with some rope tied to my bike) to get him up the road a 1/4 mile to this bear sculpture.

Curtis found an endless supply of shooting targets on our little excursions.

Climing boulders was also a great pass time.

I enjoyed napping with Bracken.  It has been a while since I didn't have a naptime to-do list, so I took advantage of it.

We also brought along the 22, or fire gun as Nathan calls it.  We drove to a remote location away from the camp ground to shoot it.

After our shooting spree, we headed into Dewey to the Maverick (our campsite was only 20 minutes away) to grab ourselves some $1 frozen yogurt self serve cones!  The boys think it is great fun when we all cram into our little truck.  We arrived back at our camp site with just enough time to make dinner before a heavy rain storm let loose.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to eat our dinner.  I hauled the boys to the tent while Curtis saved dinner by putting it in his truck. It was a heavy storm but short so after we changed into dry clothes and cleaned up our kitchen station a bit we were ready to eat.

Keepin' Cool!

Life with grass is wonderful!  Setting up, enjoying, and cleaning up our little pool is a whole different experience now, it's amazing we even attempted it in years past.  The boys have been making the most out of the warm weather lately.  With pools, popsicles, sprinklers and slip'n'slides our summer livin' is down right awesome!

Doesn't this look so refreshing?

Fireworks

For the evening of July 4th we attended the annual PV 4-ward BBQ.  It was decent, but like most church potluck meals, there were hardly enough salads, not enough desserts and way too many tortilla chips.  By the time we got through the line I found that someone had spilled fruit salad into my salad dish (making it inedible), and then someone else took my serving spoon and used it to serve up some nasty looking pasta tuna casserole thing.  Gross!  I don't understand why people have to be so messy and inconsiderate at church functions.  After a lifetime of attending church potlucks, my opinion of them is very low.  But we still go to them, time after time.  I should just learn to expect a lot less. 

The important thing is that we enjoyed the company of each other and friends.  Unfortunately our visiting and playing was cut short by some rain.  Sprinkles had been coming on and off but they weren't  threatening enough to break up the party.  So at first everyone remained sitting in their camping chairs and lounging on their blankets, until it became evident that this one was not going away anytime soon.  We had the advantage of being able to come home.  I love living across the street from the chapel!  Aunt Marci hurried home with the boys and Curtis and I grabbed our stuff.  We dried off, snuggled in blankets, watched a movie and waited for it to get dark.

We headed back over to the church lawn a few minutes before the fireworks show started with some dry blankets to snuggle in and our traditional fireworks cookies (Oreos!).

Like always Nathan was in heaven with an endless supply of little friends to run around with.  The only disappointment for him was the shocking lack of glow sticks this year.  In my defense I did try to buy some at Target a few weeks prior, but they were out and I never remembered to look for them any where else. 

Bracky was a bundle of excitement.  He knew something cool was about to happen and he was ready for it.  He loved the fireworks!  The noise didn't bother him at all (at this age Nathan covered his head and tried to melt into me) and he clapped after each round of fireworks.

I tried out the firework setting on our camera, and I'm not sure if I was using it correctly.  These fireworks are pretty psychedelic, and several of them strangely resemble sea creatures.

The Finale!

Next year I'll read up on the firework setting in the user manual, and see if I can get more normal looking photos.

Fourth of July

This year our plans for the 4th of July had to be modified a bit, due to my temporary stomach bug.  Instead of going out and about to hit up some fun local activites and celebrations we made the best of things in our own backyard.  Nathan had his heart set on going to Pioneer Park, where the city goes all out with tons of fun and several water slides.  But he had a grand ol' time with our own slip'n'slide and crazy sprinkler, although he did make me promise to take him to Pioneer Park next year! 

Bracken enjoys ripping off the flowers on our trumpet vine. 

Eating his leftover pizza "nack".

Nathan discovered how to suck the "honey" from the honey suckle flowers.

Eating some more.  Playing outside in the water and sun makes these boys HUNGRY! Aunt Marci made them some PB&H sandwiches in fun shapes.

Bracken figured out how to drive the "deep" all by himself.  He has yet to get the hang of steering.  Right now he just drives until he gets "guck" on something.

We loved having Aunt Marci with us for the holiday weekend.  Nathan and Bracken couldn't get enough of her!

Mama's Boy

I was sure surprised the other day when I got out of the shower and found this...

...my little Bracky, curled up on my bathroom rug, fast asleep.  It's not uncommon for him to hang out in the bathroom while I shower; these days he is extremely attached to me and he rarely leaves my side.  While I try to shower as quickly as I can, he usually climbs up on the toilet and goes through the contents of the over-the-toilet cabinet.  Bracken loves to put on deodorant, smear Vaseline on his face, dump the Q-tips and bobby pins in the sink and take off with my nail polish.  So, to find him asleep because he was waiting patiently on my rug is probably a once in a lifetime occurrence.  

Loves from my Boys

Monday, July 4th, was a rough day for me.  Over the weekend I had eaten some food court food with my sister and we both felt a bit off after eating it.  Sunday I felt all right but not great.  Monday, my body went into full cleansing mode.  Luckily my sister didn't get hit as hard, but my condition and the need for a bathroom put a damper on our July 4th plans.  Curtis did my groccery shopping for me and he took both boys with him, which was a first.  Curtis seriously lucked out because Grandpa Kleinman and Uncle Dusty just happend to be at the PV Albertsons when Curtis arrived and they played with the boys so Curtis could finish up the shopping.  That NEVER happens for me. The florist lady gave Nate and Brack these carnations to give to their mommy.  I bet Nathan, who will talk to anyone, was chatting her up and explained that the reason he was at the store with Daddy was because Mommy was sick.  Lucky me!

One of Each

Some cute pictures just because!