I say "big" because someday I hope a Big camping trip for us will be backpacking for a week or river rafting or something! But for now, with a young toddler still, 2 nights is all I can handle!
So this year I got Eric to agree to go to Grand Teton National Park. We had Whitney's park pass, and we could see his Grandparents on the way home, so those were some incentives for the 6+ hour drive. I think next summer we will camp closer to home and save our driving for other trips! Anyway the Tetons were pretty spectacular, and we drove out through Yellowstone so we got to see Old Faithful and the adjacent geysers again=win.
There was a lot of fighting on this trip, sigh. And impatient parents. BUT after Owen got lost the 2nd night, the last day of the trip went pretty smoothly because we all realized what was most important! (see story below)
Day 1: We went to church and then left, drove from 12:30 to 7pm and finally arrived in time to set up the tent before dark.
Funny gem of the trip:
We get to the campground and are setting up, and the kids were excited to check out the bear box. Little did we know Maris had some high expectations; a few minutes later Maris says "Don't worry, I already checked the bear box, and there's none bears in there!!" She was so surprised and a little disappointed that there were no bears inside lol! I just picture her walking up to the bear box, thinking there will be a bear inside....was she afraid? Did she think it would be like a zoo? So funny, it still makes me chuckle.
Day 2: Grand Teton NP
We started the day with a grumpy baby. She did not sleep well and she was freezing. She looked like a mad elf lol!
We hiked around Jenny Lake part way to see the Moose ponds, and we were super lucky to see a mother and baby moose! Very cool.
We found some shoreline to play on and have snacks.
And then we had our traumatic night where Owen was lost! While Eric cleaned something up, I had taken all the kids to brush their teeth and use the bathroom before bed. I went in with the girls and Owen went by himself. It took me a while to finish with myself and the two little girls, and by the time I came out, Katelyn and Whitney had already gone back to the campsite. It was dark, but as I headed back I could see Eric walking quickly toward me and he yelled "do you have Owen?" I said no, and he ran over to check the boy's bathroom-- no Owen. I knew immediately that he must have gone the wrong way when he came out of the bathroom, because several of the kids had done that so far, it was easy to get turned around. But it was our second night there and our campsite was only about 100 meters away, so I had sent him into the bathroom confident that he would make it back okay, or wait for us if he was unsure which way to go.
Luckily he had a flashlight, and we knew he wouldn't wander off into the woods. It was just a big campground, like 200 sites, and you assume people are good but you never know! Eric ran back to the campsite, I wasn't sure of his plan but I started right in the opposite direction calling Owen's name. And me and the little girls said a quick prayer. After about 5 minutes of not finding him, and feeling slow with Emma and Maris, we came back around to the camp to check for him. Eric had sent Katelyn and Whitney off looking together and had gotten the lamp lit so he would see our car and tent if he found his way back. We said another prayer and then split up again. By now a couple of people had offered to help us, since we were obviously calling for a lost boy. I was starting to feel panicky but kept shoving it down and keeping calm for the girls. And my arms were about to fall off from carrying Emma! About 10 minutes later, after I had gone around another loop and was heading back, calling "Owen!" over and over, and Maris calling with me, someone said "I think I heard someone yell that they found him!" So we hurried faster, and came around a corner to see from the back, Eric and the 3 kids walking together! Yay!
Turns out he had just gone the opposite way, and made it to the next bathroom in the next loop, where some kind people stayed with him until Eric found him. He said he wasn't scared, I think he was bugged that the people made him wait instead of letting him try to find his way back! He was only lost for 20 minutes, maybe 30, but it was super unifying for us and we had a great rest of the trip! As you can see from this pic the next morning:
We enjoyed Yellowstone:
And then we went and hung out in Pocatello for a couple of hours with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Murray. It was so fun and Maris was so cute with them!
Other summer pics from Eric's phone:
4th of July
Ahh, summer. now on to fall. Maybe I will actually catch up!!
I cried at the lost Owen story. Scary but sweet.
ReplyDeleteAlso I thought Eric was Kurtis In the boating picture because of the Bro tank lol
I miss you guys!!