We took advantage of the kids' October Break from school & went camping last weekend. It was beautiful, and the weather was perfect- much better than the record-setting triple digits that was goin' on at home!
We stayed at a campground in Oak Creek Canyon
called 'Manzanita'. I'm pretty sure' it's because of these -
Manzanita Trees, right? They were all over,
so it makes sense!
I had the kids each set out their tennis shoes for the trip, but my mistake was that I didn't notice that Danika didn't set hers out. So... since she had only worn flip flops there, this is what she ended up wearing the whole time camping:
Jacqueline's sandals with socks! Beautiful, huh!
Last time it was the coats, this time Danika's shoes...
I can't imagine what we'll forget next time!
And THIS is what Danika looked like after playing a while. She really enjoyed the dirt.
We decided to go for a hike. We actually hiked pretty far, especially for Danika! But the kids all did well & enjoyed it.
We were ALL worn out by the time we made it back to our campsite though!
And once again... Danika wasn't so happy about the potties, except this time I got pictures!
I didn't capture any of her tears on camera, but you get the jist of her trips to the potty. She would make sure her nose was plugged before going into the bathroom, & then she kept it plugged the entire time. We knew when she needed to use the bathroom, because she'd say "I want to go home!" She didn't want to say 'I need to go potty' like she normally would have, because then she'd have to use the potty there! I tried explaining to her how this is easier than digging a hole like we've done sometimes on prior camping trips, but she was too busy being miserable whining about these camp potties!
Ryan researched beforehand on the internet, & before heading home drove us to "Oak Creek Vista", not too far from our campground. It was really pretty- I even thought it was almost like the Grand Canyon but with lots of green trees!
It didn't take long for Danika & Harrison to find a spot to sit & play with the dirt & rocks again. That was deifinitely a high point for them on this trip!
It was my first time trying tinfoil dinners; very yummy! And our first time having skunks as regulars at our campground! -they always stayed away when Ryan's camera was out, of course!
It was a nice, cool get-away weekend! Wish we could do that more often!
It was a nice, cool get-away weekend! Wish we could do that more often!
They REALLY wanted to hold her- she was sitting in the container that's inside her cage- so I just lifted the container out- & as I sat there with the container, trying to get the guts to tip it into my hand, he's coaching me!!! "You can do it, Aunt Bee!" "Just lift it up more" "Tap it!"
And I was very excited that we held her! Me, Porter & Katie. Now it's not so scary, but I am SOO impressed by my little niece & nephew! Porter & Katie didn't seem even the tiniest bit afraid to hold her! She went fast too- ran up from Porter's hand so fast that we didn't know where she was a for a minute! But we found her on the back of his shirt- Ryan said it would've been great to get a picture of it on Porter's shirt too, but I put her back in the cage as soon as we found her- it scared me that she ran so fast that we didn't even know where she was! Plus, we'll have lots of chances for fun tarantula pictures! So I'm sure we'll have more to come! (Thank you, Liz!!!) :)
