Camping Trip #2

We heard from our neighbors that they like camping at Joe's Valley. It's a reservoir outside of Castle Dale. We decided it sounded like a fun place - really secluded, not as cold at night & a lake to play at.

When I was packing up the last minute things Monday morning, Aubrey came running in with her toy camera and said, "Mommy I need to pack my camera so I can take pictures." Too funny - I wonder where she's heard that before?

So, after filling every nook and cranny of our little Tercel, we squished ourselves into the car and headed out late Monday morning.

As soon as we got there, Aubrey began her hunt for rocks and pretty much didn't stop the entire trip. Who knew rocks could be so entertaining? I think Santa should bring her a stocking full of coal - she would be quite pleased with that!

Aubrey's quest for rocks begins!

Brooke was quite content looking around at the trees and feeling the breeze, as we unloaded the car.

Once Aubrey filled both hands with rocks she said, "Mommy, where can I put the rocks?"

I remembered the little sand pail I bought for the trip - and it pretty much became Aubrey's best friend!

The place was super duper secluded. The only neighbors that we had were the delightful herd of cows that liked to graze through our campsite. (The black and brown blob in the picture above are some of the cattle.) Aubrey was quite pleased with our neighbors. Jeff however was a bit concerned that we could get trampled on at night. We were woken up to the sound of a Bull, grazing very close to the tent - but happily he did not trample on us!

Aubrey was so excited to get in the tent as soon as it was up.

Here's Brooke still happily sitting in her car seat, having a chat with her animal friends.

Aubrey found the air mattress' delightful as well.

Aubrey had fun water painting on a large rock. (An activity tip from our neighbors.)

We finally got the bouncy chair unpacked and Brooke was out like a light.

Once we were unpacked we had a little wiener roast. The cooler makes a nice make-shift table for a toddler - don't you think?!

Once we finished lunch, we were off to the lake. Aubrey pretty much had that sand pail in hand and her water bottle around her neck the whole time. Doesn't she look like a cute little beach bum?

Here's daddy making sure Brooke is nice and comfy.

The water was quite cold - but Aubrey got right in.

After romping around the lake for a while - mommy showed Aubrey how to use the sand molds. She thought that was very fun. We had to make quite a few of them.

Then we were on to sand castles. Aubrey discovered that she could put rocks in the sand castle. She could have done that pretty much all day and would have been happy.

Here's Brookie just enjoying the view and the breeze.

Once we got back to camp and changed, Aubrey was immediately back to her rock picking.

The sunset was stunning.

Here's our camp chef. He did a great job on the cooking and cleaning while I attended to the munchkins. We decided next time we will hire a camp chef. (I wish!)

Aubrey was so happy that she could have mac and cheese even when she is camping!

What a cute little camper! She was pretty much a delight the whole time.

After dinner we made smores and played with Glow sticks. Aubrey also really wanted to find Mr. Moon and the stars. We could not find the moon anywhere - but there were plenty of stars to look at!

Then we were off to bed. The above glow sticks made fabulous night lights. We have a little mesh compartment at the top of the tent, that they resided in. They cast the perfect amount of light so that we could check on our munchkins throughout the night.

Brooke and Aubrey fell right to sleep. However daddy did not! He was much too worried about his girls getting too cold. What a sweet daddy. However his constant checking kept mommy up as well. Oh well, who really sleeps when they are camping!