From Wednesday through Friday (June 17-19), I attended the 4-H Alpine Camp (in Alpine, Wyoming) for work. The best part, was that Ryan, Tanner, and Taylor got to come along! This particular 'event' consisted of 100-ish kids (ages 8 - 12), 24 camp counselors (ages 13-17) and some fearless leaders (adults). I shouldn't forget to mention there were a handful of little kids, like mine, and a few others under the age of 8 who had a blast! Just a little background; I grew up camping in a 4-wall tent or under the stars, on the ground, wearing the same clothes all week...we probably changed our underwear and socks and maybe a shirt, but if we were wet, we were cold, so we knew to stay as clean and dry as possible while still having fun. This 'camp' had kids bringing whole duffle bags of clothes, pillows, blankets, coats, multiple shoes, candy, towels, blowdryers, ets....We were 'lucky' to get to sleep on bunk beds in cabins, and really, it wasn't even that bad. I even took a nice HOT shower one night, and just made sure I had ample deoderant and hair spray to hold my hair in place. Too much information? Oh, I'm sorry!
We pretty much got rained/misted on for the first two days, and by Friday, the sun was shining. However, I think I was only in the sun for about an hour, but I am FRIED! My face STILL hurts! When I wasn't teaching all 100 kids how to make charcoal cookers, I was alternating Tanner and Taylor between pants and socks...drying the wet ones by the fireplace in the 'lodge' while they got their dry pair wet. Oh, to be a pioneer! I don't know how those mothers did it!Taylor spent a good amout of time in the backpack carrier thingie...Scroll down for a picture of him in it...is there a technical name for those contraptions???
Tanner really enjoyed the mud. He couldn't get enough of it!
Ryan was a HUGE help to me, in teaching the charcoal cooker making/class and lighting the briquettes. I used 18 matches on one measly little pile when he had to drive to Thane to buy more can openers, because all 8 of the ones I bought and purchassed broke within the first two classes (I still had 80 kids to come through, and I wasn't going to use my teeth to cut the lids off the cans! He's a trooper.) Ryan even confessed, yes, confessed, that he was having fun!
What made this week possible was my parents' willingness to let us borrow their Excursion...I managed to pack clothing and such for Ryan and Tanner in one bag and Taylor and myself in another, but we had the pack-n-play, sleeping bags, the backpack carrier thingie, and a huge sound system we took up from the office for the dance (which rocked, by the way!). After all was said and done, we had that vehicle PACKED! Thank you, mom and dad!__________
As we were pulling out, my mom, dad, and sisters Stephanie and Deseret pulled up...we had a great visit for about 30 minutes...they were scouting out South-Eastern Idaho (literally, they drove all over the place!) for their upcomming Cedar Badge Adventures.
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On the way home our friends the Waites & Crofts, called us up and invited us to go up Wolverine Canyon to cook tinfoil dinners and roast marshmallows. Because we're suckers for a good time and didn't get enough of being wet, cold, and enjoying the burn of smoke in our eyes, we decided to be social and go... Check out Stevie's blog for more pictures (click on the link).
Tanner, Adelaide and Landon had a good time building a 'fire' in a hole in the ground...putting rocks and sticks and mud in the hole made for quite the camping experience for our little campers!
We were right next to a stream, but a shallow part. As luck would have it, just as my kids' feet were starting to return to normal from being wet for three days, they both had to go and stand in 4 inches of water...I'm just glad the water wasn't quick-moving or deeper! To be a kid again!
We had a blast roasting hotdogs (I was not about to make tinfoil dinners for us all in the hour I had to get unpacked and geared up for another adventure) and playing and laughing...boy, did we have fun!__________
Saturday (June 20) we had another full day of fun, while attending the Legacy Air Show in Rexburg. We've had a blast in years past, and although we enjoyed it (mostly seeing Taylor's face when he saw an airplane) I think we'll take a break for a year or two...They had the entire golf course blocked off, so we couldn't really see anything unless we were at the runway, which was crowded with smokers and interestingly-dressed people, plus it lacked a playground. :) Where we sat at the park, the kids got to play for a while.
__________So, we've been busy, life has been busy, and we hope all is well with you this Summer! :)
1 comment:
Looks like you guys have been having lots of fun!! :)
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