First Ever Family Camping Trip

We took advantage of the long weekend and went camping in Utah's west desert -- our first camping outing as a family.  Ash was stoked.  I was skeptical.  I have been camping a handful of times.  My first camping trip as a child was a mild disaster (cut foot + someone pouring boiling water on my foot whilst making us kids mac & cheese), and other than that I have done 'lake camping' a handful of times, which basically involved drinking until I passed out on the beach (tent optional).

So, our plan was to go to the Simpson Springs campground about an hour and a half from our house and stay two nights.  It's a very primitive campground with the only 'amenities' being a port-a-potty, picnic table, and a grill.  Activities during the day would mainly include rock hounding at Dugway (for geodes) and Topaz Mountain (for....topaz....).  No cell phone reception, no water source.  Us, the car, a tent, some supplies/food.  Good times.

The campsite.

We had a nice, generally relaxing time.  Camping is a lot of work.  A lot of prep work, too.  We slept great in the tent, no weird animal encounters, which I was grateful for.  We had read accounts of people waking up and a herd of antelope being around them.  Ummmm, no thanks.  The kids had a blast.  S'mores and campfires and stars were very popular.  Harper also found new bugs to obsess over (have I mentioned how obsessed he is with bugs!)  Helena was very good at finding jewels at Topaz Mountain (I'll detail those finds once we go through everything and get it cleaned up!)

Helena finding jewels (I assure you she isn't really on the side of a mountain!).  She looks like quite the mountain goat here!

Extremely typical driving view....

I'm only putting in this pic to prove I was there (someone needs a tan STAT!)

Indian paintbrush flower.  Lots of cool desert flowers in bloom right now.

This one's for you, Papa Larry -- Helena & Harper at the Pony Express station by our campground.  I blew Helena's mind explaining the Pony Express and why they had to do things the way they did.  (What? No cars or telephones!!!)  Something I learned at the monument -- did you know the Pony Express only 'ran' for a little over a year?

 We ended up cutting the second day short because I was kind of done and wanted a day to get everything put away, etc. before we had to go back to work / school.  So we stayed most of Saturday/ Saturday night and most of Sunday.  We had also run out of firewood and our food was getting warm from also running out of ice.

Things we will remember to bring next time:

TWO pot holders

A watch

A bandana for mama (long hair + desert + wind = disaster)

More ice

More firewood

More shade

ALL of the food I so carefully pre-prepared (I forgot one whole meal!)

Amenities I would like for next time:

Water source (for entertainment & so it feels like you kind of took a bath)

Friends (kids would have been more entertained if we had some company...)

Nature encounters:

Antelope

Caterpillars

Giant Beetles

Butterflies

Possible Polygamists (just kidding...kind of...)

Harper taking a smoothie / water break.

Happy Campers! S'mores time! Helena decided to stuff chocolate inside the marshmallow.  DELISH!

-Emily :)

Desolation Trail (Not a metaphor for Mother's Day)

Decided to do breakfast and a little hike today for Mother's Day.  The kids woke up early (of course!) and we were out the door by 7:15 am.  We had some yummy sustenance then headed for Millcreek Canyon to hike Desolation Trail.

Millcreek Canyon is one of the most accessible from the city, but we haven't explored it a lot for some reason.  It's a nice place to go early in the season since the snow hasn't completely melted up in the other canyons quite yet.  We are royalty in terms of getting ourselves into snow we shouldn't be in during the spring  / summertime.

I forgot our Kelty backpack kid carrier, so Harper was mostly on his own for the 4 mile round trip hike.  He did really well-- probably hiked two-thirds of it by himself and the other third was spent on my back or shoulders.  He may have taken a little cat nap at one point.  Definitely took a good nap when we got home. :)  Both kids said their legs were sore.  Ha!  Definitely glad we got an early start on our adventure since it took longer than we had planned.

Our destination:  Overlook to Salt Lake City.  The area to the right of the mountains is the Great Salt Lake.

We made it!

Ugh, finally...they let me have a snack.  Second wind was right around the corner.

We decided on the hike we are going to reinstate our Sunday morning family adventures.  We will probably do a hike most of the time and keep track of our trails here.

Summary of today's hike:

Miles hiked: 4
Time: 3+ hours
Weather: Sunny, 65-70
Nature encounters: wildflowers, fuzzy caterpillar, swallowtail butterfly (yellow & black), orange mushrooms, chipmunk, termites, giant ants, pieces of a porcupine (the 'fur').
Comments: Pretty long for the kids, gradual switchbacks, pretty busy.  Would be a little hot in summer.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!  I am so blessed to have a great mom, step-mom, grandmothers and wonderful mom friends all around me. :)

-Emily

California Spring Break 2013

OK, I know.  I'm behind again.  We have had a few trips and visitors so I am hoping to get caught up to now very soon.  And, I got a new laptop for my birthday and Ash's condition on giving it to me was that I had to blog more.  :)  Yay for first blog from the laptop!  The first laptop I have ever owned.  I'm so behind!!

On to more exciting things....

We road tripped to northern California for spring break at the end of March.  We were able to visit my old Lawrence friends, Leigh Ann and Nate and their daughter Emerson in Sacramento.  Had a lot of fun with them catching up and letting the kids play.  Sacramento also has an awesome railroad museum.  I think Ash and I thought it was cooler than the kids did!

Emmie's little trampoline was quite the hit!  Yes, they are in their pajamas outside first thing in the morning.

Ash geeking out at the California Railroad Museum.

The kids were bored by the time Ash saw everything he wanted to at the museum.  Ha!

From Sacramento we went to St. Helena to stay with Ash's aunt Deb, uncle Bob and cousin Anthony.  The kids LOVED running around their property.  Harper learned within the first hour we were there that you can't walk on lily pads on a koi pond.  Helena learned that it is always spring in California, leading her to proclaim that we need to move there.  Deb was kind enough to watch the kids for us one day so Ash and I could spend the day wine tasting.  Ash's cousin Lisa set us up on the most amazing tours / tastings.  So fun to have a day to ourselves.

Harper restraining himself from throwing the giant rocks in the pond.

Me at the vineyard that I will forever remember for having the most generous pours ever.  :)

Easter Eggs with Aunt Deb.

 From St. Helena we did a little day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore.  Such a beautiful place.  It was foggy when we were there, but still very lush, beautiful and fun.  We stopped and did a couple of hikes and hung out on the beach.  We even saw an elephant seal beach with over 300 elephant seals on it!  Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Harper showing us which way to go on our hike.

From there we crashed at our college friend's place in San Francisco.  Phil, Dana and little Layla were excellent hosts.  We grilled, watched basketball, went to the zoo, rode the bus and the train all around the city (the kids' favorite part of the trip) and spent a day at Fisherman's Wharf.  Harper discovered a love of eating crab, Helena discovered she didn't really like accidentally picking up a crab on the beach.

The view from Phil and Dana's house.  Fun to see the bay and the fog roll in at different times.

Checking out the wares...

Ash ate an obscene amount of crab...

Helena ate an obscene amount of sourdough...

Family picture!!

Helena & Layla - Matching Target sweaters!! :)

The kids loved the 'gold man' street performer.

Harper fell asleep on the train...pretty funny. We did three transfers and he never woke up.

Thanks again to our wonderful friends and family for hosting us and making our spring break totally awesome.  Love, love, love me some California.  We'll be back.

-Emily :)

Mini Break - Zion National Park

A few weeks ago I gave Ash an ultimatum that included me getting some warm sun on my skin.  This winter has been a doozy and to say me & the kids are ready for spring is an understatement.  Ash had a work meeting in Southern Utah so we rode down with him and got in a little weekend break as well at Zion National Park.

We haven't stayed in a hotel since Harper was very little and let me tell you, this time around was challenging to say the least.  I was pretty sure at one point that the lodge was going to kick us out (there were people staying on both sides of our room and above us....) after the second time Harper was throwing a tantrum at 5am or after Helena scream puking at 6:30 am (she wasn't sick, just...yeah...throwing up.) :)  Anyway, we perservered and Saturday night had some margaritas with dinner and all was well with the world.  Ha! 

Zion is such a great place.  We explored some new hiking trails and threw many rocks in rivers.  And experienced 70 degree temperatures for the first time in many months.  Yay!

Helena & red rocks & river.

Attempt at a family photo...H2 REFUSED to sit with us.  Which was par for the course.

View from Observation Point Trail.  Such a great sunny day.

View out of Riverside Walk by entrance to Zion Narrows at dusk.

Zion Canyon - Observation Trail.

Ash peering over into Zion Canyon at the peak of the trail.

A highlight of the trip:  Brownie in the middle creme brulee at Bit & Spur Restaurant in Springdale, UT.  Our entire dinner was amazing.  Highly recommend this place.

Riverside Walk near Zion Narrows.

Harper in a more decent moment....picking up rocks & drawing in the sand.  Really I just threw this in so ya'll don't think I left him on the trip.

We can throw rocks for days!!!

- Emily :)

Costa Rica

Hey everyone....(**crickets**)....I know.  I suck a blogging lately.  I have good intentions. But, yeah...life and two year olds, etc., etc., etc., get in the way. 

But, we've successfully been to Costa Rica and back.  The grandparents in Kansas survived taking care of the kids.  Ash & I had our own little 'survival issues' while traveling.

I got stung by this:

Yeah, I'm not kidding.  It was about 4 inches long.  In my bed at the resort.  There was mucho hysterics, but two anti-venom shots later and I wasn't dead!  Yay for living!

Ash fell down a flight of stairs at the resort the day before I got stung and banged himself up pretty good, too.  (Two sore knees, an almost broken wrist, torn rib cartilage, cut on his chin).  This was at the beginning of our trip -- you know, before the zip lining, white water rafting and waterfall diving....so, we were pretty sure we were sitting ducks.  But, all was well.

We had a really great time lots of beach, sun, pool, drinks, buffets, good sister / brother-in-law time, good time making new friends. :) 

Ash in his 'vacation hat' (lol) and me on the beach by our resort.

Jess & Justin getting ready to go on our horseback riding / waterfall diving/ zip lining/ hot springs / mud bath / white water rafting adventure. :)

Hidden waterfall....

Jess & Lauren taking the plunge.  The water was COLD.  But it was fun.

Lauren thinking her hubby has had too much whiskey.  You maybe had to be there... :)

 A silly game we played: we told the waiters almost every night that it was someone's birthday. :)  We always got sung to and an extra cake. :)

After our steak dinner evening....

Me demonstrating that I was taller than my little sister for this one night.  Thanks wedges!!

Chris & Ashley

Us on the last day of our trip.  Sunburn much?  Or as Ash says..."Base tan!"

 So the resort had some lame-o Vegas/Costa Rican hybrid entertainment every night.  The last night we were there we decided to make our own dance party....thanks to one of our travel mates' ipod boom box he packed in his little suitcase.  It ROCKED and we were most definitely the 'people to watch' at the resort that night.  Some might say spectacle.  But it was fun and hilarious.  Anyway, these pics are from our mobile dance party. We definitely livened up the place that night.

Ash & Justin.....

Dance party making its way through the resort from the buffet to the bar. :)

INTO it. (Kristen, Lauren & Bailey)

Here's to hoping it's not another 3 years before we get to take another adults only vacation!  Thanks for all the fun guys!!

-Emily :)