Camping in Moab: First time in a tent!

 Earlier this month, we headed down to Moab for a weekend of camping and some fun in the side-by-side.  We went down with Brett and his kids and another friend and his daughter.  This was the girls' first "real" camping trip, i.e. sleeping in a tent.  They loved it - almost as much as they loved setting the tent up in the basement and "camping" there.

We set up camp in the slickrock area.  Here's our group enjoying some breakfast.  Josh made homemade scones over the fire.  Yum.

 Saturday morning, we all headed out to ride fins 'n things, a trail we've ridden before.  It was a little too hot.  Moab wasn't quite ready for summer to be over.

The girls had a great time playing with Leah (and Hayden too).

Heat + camping = a trip to the local Moab pool, probably a highlight for the girls.  There was an indoor and outdoor area, with big slides in both and the girls ran back and forth.

Next year, we'd definitely like to take more camping trips, but I will be more picky about the weather.  Call me a fair weather camper, but 95 degrees is no bueno when there's nowhere to escape.  But we did have camping on our summer checklist, so I'm glad we made it happen!

Camping in Challis

We got back Saturday night from a great camping trip in Challis, Idaho.  It was technically a "work trip" for Josh.  The area Marine Corps recruiting stations all get together for a week in Challis for some training and also some good family time.  The training was really just one morning and a couple of hours one afternoon.  The rest of the time we were free to do whatever we wanted.

This was the first time we have taken the girls camping and Uncle Jim was nice enough to let us borrow his trailer for the trip.  We were a little worried about how the girls would sleep in the big trailer and sharing a bed (they just recently got the hang of sleeping in their toddler beds).  The first night, we made up their little shared bed, and they fell to sleep holding hands.  Too cute!  There were some rough nights and the girls each took some turns in our bed, but overall they thought it was pretty cool.

Camping girls

 All three of our little ones splashing around in the Salmon River. 

 We went "hiking" which was basically a little walk.  The girls thought riding in those backpacks was the equivalent of riding rides at Disneyland. 

 Stopping to give daddy some hugs

 We hunted for rocks (and threw them in the river)

 And we got REALLY sticky roasting marshmallows over the fire. 

We all came back tired and dirty on Saturday.  The girls slept from 8 pm to 9:15 am the next morning and then took a three-hour nap! 

We hope to have more camping trips soon.