A camping we will go...

We made a goal this year to go camping every month during the summer...we went one time. However, that is 100% better than last summer :) I loved the little spot we found, really--we are in a designated camping area, but we couldn't see or hear anyone else, we just seemed to be all alone in the wilderness....with a convenient toilet a few yards away.
Bridger and Kennedy were so excited to finally sleep in the mountains. Our first order of business was to go exploring. Just beyond our campsite was the prettiest little stream. There was a log bridge--kind of a skinny one--I had to carry Kennedy across it and I was kind of nervous for our safety--good thing the water was only 3 inches deep....
Also next to the stream were mounds and mounds of dirt. Yes, dirt--it's everywhere when you go to the mountains. The kids had the best time rolling around in it--I think they were piglets in a previous life...





See what I mean? No, she is not an apprentice to a chimney sweep, although Bridger and I did sing the song to her. She liked that. She danced. And when she moved little puffs of dust and dirt would fly off her--kind of like Pig Pen.
When you go camping, to compensate for the uncomfortableness of it all, you have to have good food. Of course, the scenery is breathtaking and the fresh mountain air is refreshing, but oreo's and diet coke (for Jeremy) make it even so much better :) We also did some dutch oven, we made a beef stew and it was really really good. Then we had more oreo's...
This bear sign was tied to the picnic table, and Bridger wanted to know why there was a bear picture on the table. His voice was kind of high pitched--he had a little crooked smile with crazy big eyes, he chuckled nervously as though it was just a passing thought and no big deal. Oh my goodness. Poor kid. I explained that we aren't supposed to feed bears, leave food out, yadda yadda and then I had to mention that bears only live on the tops of mountains, all the while pointing to the top of the mountain, many hundreds of thousands of feet above us. That seemed to help. At least he took a deep breath. Phew!

After dinner we explored a little more, Bridger got a little stiff anytime we even faced the mountain top that I had pointed to after that, like we could ever climb the thing. But he relaxed and had a great time. Jer tried to get a picture of them kissing me, this was the best he could do--in all the others, Kennedy was licking my cheek. I have no idea.

Flexing their muscles. Bridger's signature move--now Kennedy's got it down too.
It was just so pretty! See any bears? Me neither, thank goodness!
Our totem pole.
Onto bedtime. We got the kids all tucked in with 300 blankets (it was pretty cold!) and they looked so cute and snuggly. One minute later, by the time I was in my sleeping bag, they had both switched places and turned upside down. The blankets were all over the place and Kennedy was all over me. So much for cute, snuggly kids.

Jer was trying to quiet Kennedy down, but she kept saying to me: "I want you to hold me. I want you to hold me." So, I mimicked her and said it back. She looked at me and said: "No, I can't. I'm busy. You're too heavy." And that ended that.
We woke up in the morning and started a fire. We pulled all of our food out of the car where we had kept it safe and secure for the night only to find that we had an intruder! I don't know how it happened, but something got into our food supply and nibbled little holes through everything! I can only guess it was the little squirrels. We had a few in our campsite, which Bridger named 'Luvie Michael Johnson' (again, no idea.) They must have been the culprits. But how? Did they get into our car? I was so scared of finding a squirrel carcass in our car that I made Jeremy pack up and unpack all of our camping gear... (hee hee)....
But as you can see from Kennedy's mouth...our oreo supply was untouched. Thank our lucky stars!


I love that Kennedy always wants a flower when we pass one by. And I love even more that Bridger will pick one for her before she even asks. I love that Jeremy loves to go to the mountains with me and that he was so sweet to do all the labor and grunt work for our trip. I can change a flat tire and I can start a campfire, but Jeremy does it so much more efficiently. I love camping. I hate the hard ground. I hate how the inside of the tent gets wet with condensation--that's gross. I also hate hearing rustling in the middle of the night, outside of our little fragile tent...was it a bear? Or a person? creepy. But, this view and the memories are so worth the sacrifice.