6th Annual Camping Trip

This year's camping adventure was just outside of downtown Crouch and just over the fence from the Starlight Mountain Theater.  We had a giant campsite with shade just on the edges that we had to chase throughout the day.  We moved the chairs and picnic tables 3 times. River Pond Campground is run by an interesting old man, who takes cash and good checks. He gets around with his riding lawn mower and old golf cart.  There was a pond that was completely overgrown with plants, and the river that was shallow and perfect for wading. Here's a few of the highlight:

• The McClures were the first to arrive.  Their tent was up and the kids had found a shady hideout to play in before anyone else showed up.  Bry and I-guy rode in the back of Grandpa and Grandma's car, with a big black storage bag on top.  The taller passengers had thick black straps obscuring their view or scrapping their heads. Thanks to Brent and Krystle for bringing up all of Bry's gear.  Everyone was loaded to overflowing.  Someone in this family needs to buy a big truck!  Brent, Krystle, and Joe were the last to arrive, but they made it well before dinner.
• Grandpa and Grandma took a drive into town for ice and styrofoam cups.  Crouch has a new deluxe supermarket and a very nice park and library.
• Both Mike and Grandpa hurt their backs earlier that day.  Ibuprofen for both of them, limited movement, and maybe a little less enthusiastic, but they were troopers.  
• Stace made foil dinners with turkey burgers, veggies, rice, and a lot of cream of mushroom soup.  They were super delish!  Everyone cleaned their plates, even Maycee who had to be threatened with no s'mores.  Mike chowed down on a full pound patty with all the fixin's.
• This year's s'mores featured Mounds, Reeses, and Hershey bars.  The marshmallows were giant and the kids were pro roasters.  Thanks, Bry!!!
• We didn't need to sing around the campfire because we could hear the Starlight Mountain Theater production.
• Krystle and Joe were the first to bed. We were low on firewood so we were all in bed by about 11:00 when the show was over.
• Our only wildlife sighting was the little gray camp cat that hung around our campfire and was there to greet us in the morning.
• Before breakfast, Grandpa, Grandma, and Hads took a trip to town for more firewood and another tank of propane for the stove.  (How could we bring so much stuff and be unprepared!)
• Mike prepared hot chocolate for everyone and sliced up oranges.  Brent and Krystle brought everything for our breakfast featuring our traditional omelets in a bag.  Very tasty!  We tried monkey bread in the dutch oven, but it needed a sweeter dough, more butter, and much more cinnamon and sugar.  
• The kids went on their treasure hunt.  There were 22 clues and it took about an hour. Besides candy, their treasure included big glasses, monster slingshot kites, necklaces to make, boats to build, and message in a bottle kits to record their memories of camping.
• The adults sat around working on crossword puzzles and chatting.
• Lunch was walking tacos, veggies and dip, and watermelon.  We had to move the kitchen from one side of the campsite to another just to stay in the shade.
• Everyone except Mike (he took down the tent and loaded up) walked down to the river. The kids got wet, floated their boats, skipped rocks, and splashed around for slow-motion videos.
• Brent, Krystle, and Joe headed home after the river.  This year's youngest, Joe, was amazing.  No crying, no fussing, just chill.
• The rest of us headed to the ice cream parlor in Crouch.  That was a perfect ending to camping - sweet and refreshing.

And finally....I have pictures.

Youngest Camper - 4 months

4 more bites or you don't get s'mores

Happiest Camper

Mini Reunion

It was hard getting good pictures on my little camera because there were bright windows everywhere. (I can't seem to get this picture where I want it, so it will just be here at the beginning.

 One of the things I love about my family is that many of us can operate on the fly - last minute, not much of a plan, no stress - and things turn out!  We had a mini reunion at my cousin's cabin and it was one of my most pleasant days ever.  Nine of us were there which was a perfect number to sit around a table and talk.  Initially, my sisters and I were just going to join my dad as he visited his sister, Carol (age 90), and our Uncle Frank (93).  Then Dad wanted to see the cabin that their daughter (my cousin) Chris and her husband had just finished up at Southfork (Ogden Canyon).  Chris offered to serve lunch, and somehow my cousin Steve and his wife Joan heard about it and came too.  They are all some of my favorite people!

Some of our lunch, courtesy of Red Butte Restaurant.

We have fond family memories of biking down from the summit, Monte Christo, or floating the river behind their cabin.  We had several family parties there.  The old cabin is gone, but Chris and her husband Scott have built a craftsman style cabin on the old foundation.  That family has a knack with style.  Everything is beautiful.

The back of the house faces the river.  The backside of the upper level is all the master suite, and the back porch is awaiting retractable screens.  There are two fans on the porch.  It will work in all seasons.

Front view.  The lower level that juts out is Scott's chef kitchen.  Upstairs on this side are two bedrooms and a bath.

Above, picture of the original cabin in the entryway.  Also, the deer that Chis's grandfather shot.

The reframed Budweiser poster that always hung in Chris's grandfather's store.

The original couch - stripped of white paint, recaned, and all recovered cushions.  Frank and his brother lit a jack-o-lantern under the couch and caught it on fire about 85 years ago.  It's survived beautifully.

Blurry, but Fredee and Nan looking at the history of Southfork that Carol worked on for 3 years.

The other side of the room with a big table that we all gathered around.

The bird room.  The shelf under the eaves is full of bird books and the wall you can't see has a grouping of botanical prints.

One side of bedroom #2.  I loved the painting.

The other side.  On the shelf under the eaves is a collection of rocks.

Lunch of course was fabulous, since Scott owns four successful restaurants in Salt Lake.  Chris had stopped at one brought everything we needed.  At the table, we went around the table and everyone gave a short report on their kids and families.  We finished with Dad, who updated everyone on Tad's family since they didn't have anyone there, and then Carol and Frank sharing some humorous advice/life philosophy. 
A couple things I'll remember:

• Carol saying she'd always felt akin to me for some reason, she didn't know why.  (Maybe because we were both teachers.)  She asked me about teaching and was a little upset that I have taught longer than she did.  I think WWII slowed the start of her career.
• She loved my hair and wants hers to grow just a bit so that she can have the same cut.
• Frank told us that every morning when they get up, he tells Carol that they have to be on their best behavior that day.  He said that their kids have plans and they just might end up in a home.  "Chris has a notebook and she writes everything down."
• Frank also told me that if he had known how great his kids were going to be, he would have had a dozen.  (They just had the two girls, and two grandchildren.)

 After lunch we retired to the lawn to watch the river, and the birds that Chris feeds.  We saw a teenager pull 3 nice sized fish out of the river just downstream from us, and I saw a hummingbird stop and stand on the feeder with its two legs.  I've never seen a hummingbird's legs before.  It made it look just like any other bird, only miniature.
Chris brought us scoops of vanilla ice cream with a few fresh raspberries and a small brownie.  The weather was perfect, the scenery, the food, and the people.  It was a delightful afternoon.    

Chatting it up on one of the three porches.

New shed that Scott built.

I meant to crop Fredee out since she was taking a picture of me while I took a picture of Dad and Frank.

Carol and Steve.

Sister and brother.

  

EFT 2015

That stands for Environmental Field Trip.  Every year we take the sixth graders to a camp in Cascade for three nights and four days.  It's a rite of passage before moving on to junior high.  They look forward to it all year.  We also take about 33 parents to help.  They teach classes like fishing, archery, and Dutch oven cooking, take pictures, lead evening activities and provide nursing skills.  The planning takes all year, but once we're there, it's beautiful, fun, and even relaxing.

This year we got home from Eugene late Sunday afternoon.  I had to do a couple loads of wash and pack for EFT.  I was rested and ready to go in my tie-dye the next day.

Our 6th grade teachers on the last day of camp - Yipee!

I blogged and blogged and blogged about our daily adventures so that parents back in Boise could stay informed.  If you want to read all about it and see thousands of pictures, go here:

Trail Wind EFT 2015

Back Yard Busy

     Next Saturday will be the last day of June and I'm going to post an update on how my summer project lists are coming.  It seems like I've been working real hard, but everything is taking longer than I think it should.  I've been focusing on the yard, but mostly painting.  I want to start on indoor projects by the time it gets hot, certainly before July 4th, but then again, everything is taking longer than I think it should.

(My first collage posted - Thanks Jana!)

Naked Yard

Our neighbor's houses with big trees

Our naked yard

We had to take our great big tree out of the front yard.  Then we had to take a lot of grass out of our front yard so that we could grind up all the roots.  Now we have people stopping in the street to ask us what we're doing.  I have a vision for our naked yard, but I need Terry to get on board.  He keeps saying he needs a picture or a plan.  I just have to jump in.  So I started, and dragged Terry, his muscle, and his wallet into this project with me.

So far I've cleared a LOT of weeds from the sides of the house.  I made a path that leads to a back window box of herbs.  I tried a couple things from Pinterest - vinegar to kill weeds, and wet newspapers instead of black lining buried under the path.  It's covered with mulch from our tree that's now gone, and lined with rocks that I dug up.  We've made a couple trips to Lowes for rock and stepping stones.  I've planted as much as I can in phase one.  Terry's now taken measurements and is ready to get lumber for the fence and garden box.  I'm hoping we can accomplish phase two next week.  When the weather warms up, I want to be out on the patio with Nedee.  I'll read and crochet.  Nedee will watch from the shed roof.

Side yard path with new hosta plant

First Annual Family Camp

It started out as an experiment to see if we could do it, if anyone wanted to do it, and if anyone had fun.  As a whole, we weren’t very experienced.  Terry has done several backpacking trips with the boys in the wilderness, but that’s different than camping with girls and kids.  I have camped a few times with my dad, who did everything, and I’ve been to Girls Camp many times.  Again, that’s different.  We have a picture of Bry, Brent, and Stace, when they were grade school age, camping.  That was the only time they went as a family.  Mike was a boy scout, but that’s not the same.  Thank goodness Amee joined the family.  She was the only one with real experience. 
Amee suggested a beautiful spot, Pine Flats, up by Lowman.  It’s a small, shady campground above the river.  There’s an easy trail, about 1/2 a mile, to some hot springs.  The campground also had 2 hand pumps for good well water and 2 outhouses that didn’t smell bad at all.  That’s a good thing because Hadley needed to make many trips a day to the potty.
We did it up right; three tents and three coolers, chats around the camp fire, tin foil dinners, s’mores, dutch oven dinners and cobbler, hot chocolate in the mornings, hikes, and the hot springs.  We came back with funny stories about our camp neighbors, ideas for next time, and good memories.  The only thing we need to improve is better shoes for the McClure kids.

 
 Mike in his GQ camping clothes, Our fire crew, Kids help with tents, and Bry with 4 tinfoil dinners

Hudson’s first roasted marshmallow was a burn-up dud.

Bry lost his wedding ring down by the pump.  It was found, and they’re still honeymooning.

Omelets in a bag, Sticks were big, Water boys, Hadley’s hangout

Entertaining the troops, Cars in the dirt, Amee’s magic bag that held everything for kids, Group crossword puzzles

Hiking to the hot springs, Haddie soaking it up, Haddie drinking it up, Bry’s fam reaches one of the upper pools

Dutch oven cooking

Tent clean-up

Last one out - He didn't want to leave.