Friday, August 5, 2011

The Almost Camping Trip

A few weeks ago Cameron and I planned a little mini camp out with some of our family.  The plan was to go up Big Cottonwood early Friday and get a walk-in spot (don't laugh - I've learned my lesson now), make tin foil dinners and dutch oven dessert, and then all of the non-tent-sleeping people (aka - grandma and grandpa) could head back down the canyon to their own comfy beds and the rest of us could stay the night, make breakfast and hike a little Saturday, and then head home.
Before kids Cam and I used to take off on a random camp out all the time.  But apparently in the years since we've gone to AZ, moved back and decided to pick up camping again, the Wasatch Mountains have become very popular because every last spot up Big and Little Cottonwood as well as American Fork and Provo canyons was taken!!
I had a little meltdown in my mind (all of those hours of planning and shopping and packing and cleaning WASTED!) and then decided to make the best of it.  We headed back up the canyon and found a day use spot up at Ledgemere (my favorite picnic place up Big Cottonwood) to make our tin foil dinner, dutch oven peach cake and s'mores.
Something about cooking food outside makes it taste amazing!
1 yellow cake mix, 1 can of cream soda and a bottle of peaches  in a dutch oven for 25 minutes makes an AMAZING dessert!
Assorted siblings and siblings-in-law

The whole gang!

Wyatt and April had the foresight to bring along some diggers and dump trucks and the kids had a grand time filling them with rocks and racing them down the mountainside that backed up to our picnic spot.  Adam, Cameron and Andy took the little ones hiking up the side of the mountain after dinner and then they came back and finished off the night with some "delicious hot shmose!"
Wyatt and his construction zone
The after dinner entertainment
The hikers!
She was on a quest for the perfectly roasted mallow
Colby's First S'more - I think it was a hit!
Sugar + messiness + sticking things in the fire = total bliss for this boy

After the cook out we headed down the canyon to our make shift camping spot (otherwise known as "Camp Grandma and Grandpa's House")
Livs and Grandma Vickie (my awesome mama!)
and amazing dad!
For anyone with little kids who is nervous about camping, can I just float the idea of a backyard campout?  IT WAS GREAT!!!  The kids had such a riot helping set up tents and sleeping bags and then running around on the lawn under the stars playing t-ball and flashlight tag!  I am a huge fan of camping, but can I just say how fabulous it was to have a bathroom twenty feet away and semi-clean children in the morning?
Now that is an excellent campground!
Wrastlin' with uncle Adam in the tent
Our little campers:  Caleb, Olivia, Colby and Wyatt (who of course came prepared with a headlamp!)
I wish I would have gotten a few shots of their late night t-ball game in the dark.  Wyatt could see to hit the ball because of his nifty little headlamp, but the rest of us poor unsuspecting souls laying out on the lawn in the dark...  watch out!  I think we all got at least one welt from a t-ball on the fly!  The kids would switch off and run around trying to find the ball in the dark laughing all the way.  In the morning my mom cooked us all breakfast and even though it wasn't what we expected out of our camping trip, I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time and "Camp Grandma and Grandpa" has been unanimously voted in as a summer tradition!

3 comments:

Susan said...

I love that! Looks like it ended up working out GREAT. We're camping in a few weeks and I only kind of looking forward to it... i'm definitely ho hum about camping :)

Kara and Chant said...

So fun! That's great that you made the best of the situation and it looks like it was just as much fun!

Lynne said...

Love how you made it all work even without finding a place to camp!