Is It Naptime Yet

So for the third year in a row we went camping with the Park family. I’m beginning to see a tradition take shape. We went and visited Andrea and her family in August for our yearly Ely trip. When we told them the date Andrea told us they were planning on camping that weekend and we were welcomed to join them, so we did! For this camping trip I finally got my wish for a tent that I could stand up in. I really didn’t like having to be hunch over to put pants on in our old tent, and since the girls needed their own sleeping bags and were too big to share one, we needed to get something bigger than the 4 man tent we have.

Jon put me in charge of buying the tent. I was tempted to get a huge ten man tent with two rooms that could fit at least 4 twin mattresses, but instead I bought a long six man tent, and I’m pretty confident we can fit 3 twin air mattresses in there, I’m just not sure Jon would have much room to sleep. 😉

We went camping just outside of Ely this time. It was mostly for the experience and the fun of camping out in the wilderness. We each made our own dinners but for dessert we tried cake in a mason jar, from Family Fun. Brien also brought some ice cream and it was delicious. I’m craving it as I type this, but that might also be because I’m hungry. They just used a boxed cake mix and cooked it for the recommended time. Since there was a meteor shower taking place we were able to watch the night sky and see a few arch across. It was beautiful. We actually traveled up to Lee Canyon the night before and saw some just outside of the Vegas lights with the girls.

It didn’t get too cold that night, and we woke up the next day and broke camp down before we went on a hike. We did the full 3 mile loop, but the Parks stopped a little early to go get some chores they needed to do done. Zarina was happy to be on the hike, but only if she was being carried. Our girls were happy to be on the hike as long as Jack, Andrea and Brien’s dog, was on the hike, so it was a little rough at times once the Parks left. Overall it was pretty fun and we enjoyed the cooler weather as we walked through the Juniper trees and along the trail.

After showering and getting cleaned up at the Park’s house we roasted hot dogs and then ate smores. They have a nice fire pit in their back yard, so it kept us warm as the night cooled. We then slept inside that night and went home Sunday morning.

I love our yearly trip to Ely to see Andrea, Brien and Zarina. I’m so grateful they open their home to us and allow us to invade for a short time each year. I’m so happy they live relatively close and that the girls get to see Zarina and be friends with their cousin. It’s funny because I hated that the only trips we took as a family was to visit family. I wanted to go to Disneyland or the Zoo, but I now understand why my parents made those trips. Hopefully we get to do both the family and “fun” trips with the girls and if we’re lucky we can have our family on our “fun” trips too, like we did earlier this year at Disneyland.

Thank you once again Parks, and we love you!