Camping!

This last weekend we braved our very first camping trip with Cohen! I was so excited to give him this experience and was so sure he was just going to love it since he is the boy who constantly wants to be outside and playing in dirt, water, and rocks! So we planned a trip with Lindsi and Eric and headed out on Friday afternoon about 40 minutes past Payson, AZ up to forest and mountains! We found a great spot with an already built fire pit and about a 1/4 mile hike to Bear Lake, which was beautiful. The scenery and surroundings were peaceful and picturesque, and the closest feeling we have found yet to Washington. We promptly set up camp, handed Co a peanut butter sandwich and called it dinner, and set off to explore the lake. Then we hiked back up and started up a fire (which Cohen called a light) and made French dips and smores. After finally getting our air mattress blown up sort of evenly, we all 4 (including Stella) snuggled into the tent. Cohen was not having any part of actually putting his body into his sleeping bag, so he just laid on the air mattress and I kept covering him with a blanket all night. But for the first time he actually kept his head at one end of the bed the whole night and slept like a champ! Our other child is the one who proved to be ridiculous. Trying feverishly to squeeze onto the 6 inches left behind me on the edge, pacing, whining, shedding like mad, and finally figuring out that Cohen wasn't using up all the length of his spot in the middle, so settling into the foot of the air mattress between Scott and I. The next morning there was enough dog hair in that tent you could have made a stuffed animal! It was disgusting! So of course even though we didn't go to bed until probably 9:30 (way past Co's bedtime) he awoke with the sunrise and we were up and at 'em by 6am. We trekked down to the lake to find Lindsi and Eric already fishing away. After they had been at it an hour or so with no luck, Eric handed his pole over to Scott and on his 2nd cast he caught what turned out to be the only fish of the day for our party! We enjoyed blueberry pancakes over the camp stove and Cohen entertained himself with driving his trucks and scoops through the dirt, unloading the tackle box, throwing every rock he could find on shore into the lake, eating endless snacks and juice boxes, and once about every 2-3 hours declaring "I'm so tired" and asking to go lay down in the tent. So I would haul him back up the trail get in there, lay down for 5 minutes until he would decide "I not tired anymore, I'm awake." So we would get out and do it all over again. By 5pm we learned where Cohen's threshold ends for skipping a nap during the day. He was done and for the first time he was the one asking to go home, previously it was his dad asking incessantly. So we promptly packed up our campsite, said goodbye to Eric and Lindsi and headed home. Cohen was asleep in the car before we got out of the campground. So I guess 24 hours for our first camping trip isn't bad. A lot of work for a short time, but at least we got to do it! We made some fun memories and managed to capture a few pictures to remember it by too. All in all, glad we did it!

Cohen doing his best to help set up camp

Our Campsite

Lindsi fishing at the lake



Cohen LOVED being down by the lake!