Is It Naptime Yet

15 days, that’s how long our vacation was. The time flew and we did some amazing things, all of which I will blog about later, but I wanted to note 15 things I learned on our vacation to 4 national parks, with a national monument thrown in to mix it up.

1. I do not like “wild caves.” I knew I wouldn’t like squeezing into tight spaces, so I skipped the first one, but going into the dark abyss of the second cave was too much for me. I shed a few tears as I emerged to the surface alone, and my family continued on their journey into the unknown.

2. Wading through a stream in Montana, made from melting snowfall, is seriously cold and pebbles hurt your feet. Trying to make an eight year old go faster while crossing the fast current of a stream that leads to a lake just 20 feet away, makes your feet even colder.

3. Sleeping with the rain fly off so you can see the stars is fun.

4. Mosquitoes love people from the desert and little girl’s heads and faces.

5. Starting a fire is harder than you think.

6. Eight year olds are attracted to mud, or mud is attracted to eight year olds, not sure which.

7. Taking a hike and having it start to rain, then hail, is a great adventure for an eight year old. The girls especially liked getting hot chocolate afterwards.

8. Nearly six year olds love drawing pictures of lakes, and will say, “that’s so beautiful,” about nearly everything they see.

9. Husbands are great for setting up and taking down tents.

10. Eight year olds are great at fetching water.

11. Nearly six year olds are great at helping to rinse dishes.

12. If you give a little girl a camera, there will be at least one self portrait.

13. Oatmeal really is the easiest camping breakfast.

14. Ice cream cones are really expensive at national parks.

15. I am able to camp for 5 nights in a row and take only one shower and survive. It may not be pretty and a hat may be involved for most of the time.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 24th, 2011 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Family, fun, Life trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.