Camping

In August we went camping with the Lamb cousins right before school started up again.  We usually go on father's day weekend and invite grandpa Ellis to come along but it didn't work out this year.  I think it was raining or something.  Oh, yeah and there was lots of water in the rivers in Salt Lake County so I was on flood watch, going up and down the rivers checking for flooding and damage.  So we missed that chance.  So instead we just went up into the Stansbury mountain range that is just west of us to some campgrounds they have there. The kids put on their worst clothes and shoes and off we went.  It was fun.

We took the fish from the trout farm and cooked them over the campfire for dinner. We also had the customary hotdogs for roasting. And I tried to make bread in the dutch oven but that didn't work out so well.  It got a little hot on the bottom (pics below). For breakfast we just made some scrambled eggs and bacon in the dutch oven over the fire. It all turned out pretty nice.

There was a little creek running right next to the campground and the kids loved that.

There must have been some scary animals around because Lucy (the dog) after snooping around for a few minutes just wanted to get back into the car.  She just sat next to it whining until I let her in.  She wouldn't come out until the next morning, which is very weird for her. But whatever wild things were out there left us alone.  The next morning when Lucy got out of the car she went missing for a couple hours and the kids were pretty worried.  But they finally found her up on the main road that heads up the canyon.  I don't know if she was lost or just exploring but the kids were sure happy to have her back.

Luke loves being outside. He spent most of his time collecting firewood and shooting the bb guns with his cousin Andrew.  It was a nice getaway right before getting back to school. 

 Our campsite

 

Burnt bottom bread

You can see the full damage better in this picture. Surprisingly the kids ate it anyway after ripping the bottom off.

Leisel

Lila (she begged me to take this picture of her by the beautiful waterfall)

Zoe

Luke and Andrew shooting

Leisel whittling 

Luke cutting us some firewood

Fishing with Leisel and Luke

I took Zoe and Lila fishing a couple years ago at the trout farm and I decided it was time to take Leisel.  I wanted to take Luke too but I wasn't sure I could handle him there.  He is not very good at following instructions and I was worried he would end up in the water or with a hook through his lip or something.  But in the end I took both of them.  And it went just fine.  We worked on casting for quite a while without a hook on the line (just sinkers to give it some weight) and then they both got to catch several fish.  They thought it was great. Neither of them like to touch the fish though.  But they like to hook them and reel them in. Here are some pictures.

Real fishing is rarely this successful.  They get bored after 10 minutes without a catch and end up playing in the water, so it is fun to just let them catch them as often as they want.

Piano Practice