Fresh Air

On Sunday after church we decided we all needed a breath of fresh air so we packed up and went camping.  We have been struggling with Easton's behavior as of late and thought it would probably be good to get him away from the TV and computer and all his Batman toys.  It was so refreshing to see him just playing with a stick or a weed.

We drove down to Payson and had dinner with the family, visited "old" Grandma and Grandpa Page, hitched up the trailer house and headed up the canyon.  It was bedtime when we got there so we got set up and ready for bed.  Cal wanted absolutely nothing to do with the trailer so it took quite a while to settle him down, but eventually we all slept.

In the morning, Tyson went out looking for deer and the boys were so excited to stay in the trailer with mom and eat donuts.  Then we went exploring.

When Tyson got back we spent some time shooting the pellet gun.  Easton took a scope to the eyeball on his first shot.  Oops...

We got kinda bored so we went for a drive.  I found the first buck.

We went down the dirt road to Lizard Lake which Tyson said was crawling with salamanders.  It had rained in the night and the dirt road had some awful muddy spots that even the Jeep couldn't handle.  Since we were pretty much on the edge of a cliff and had no way to turn around, Tyson made the boys and me get out and he spent a good half an hour building a road of logs and rocks for the tires to grip.  I was totally doing my mental planning for what would happen when the Jeep rolled to the bottom of the mountain and the boys and I were stranded up there... Fortunately we all survived.

We got to Lizard Lake and there wasn't a single salamander.  Luckily for Tyson, others reinforced his memory or I would have thought he was losing it.

When we got home from that expedition we ate lunch and then realized it was only 10:00 in the morning.  We had a long day ahead of us to fill up!  We were pretty bored most of the time.  We took turns taking naps or taking walks.  The boys did some coloring and reading books.  Callan did a lot of driving in the stationary car.

Oh ya, and we brought this wet stinky thing.  I guess he made for good company.

Callan thought he was really funny and snuck into the dog kennel.  He played peek-a-boo in there forever before I finally pulled him out kicking and screaming.

When it felt like days had gone by, we decided to drive down to Payson.  It was only 1:00.  I was in serious need of some allergy meds and we were getting eaten by bugs.  We spent a couple hours down there and headed back up the canyon to get dinner started.  When we got back to the trailer a crazy thunderstorm hit.  The trailer was just getting pounded with rain.  I love thunder storms and I thought it was awesome until I realized Tyson was not thinking it was awesome.  I guess it's not great if lightening is striking all around you and you are in the middle of a bald peak on a mountain in a metal trailer with poles that go into the ground.  So we braved the torrential downpour and ran out to the Jeep.  We waited out the storm stuffed in there with the smelly dog.

After the storm it was lovely.  We ate a delicious dutch oven dinner and decided to pack things up and sleep in our own comfy beds that night.

We had promised Easton marshmallows so after dinner we roasted some on the stove (due to the fire restrictions) and he thought it was great.

While Tyson packed things up I followed Easton around as he "blazed a trail."  Then we all had a biology lesson and dissected an owl pellet.  We found 3 mice in it and it was nasty.

On our way down the canyon we passed Steve and Arlene who were on their way up to visit us!  I was so glad we caught them!  We sat and decided what to do and Easton had to go to the bathroom so Tyson took him out behind some trees where they conveniently caught a frog.  They brought it back and showed Callan.  It nearly jumped into his mouth and he loved it.

We ended up going back to the Pages to talk and eat some more.  We weren't really sure if it was a successful trip until Easton sat on Grandpa's lap and told him every detail of the entire day.  I guess it was worth it!