Camping for UEA Weekend

We haven't camped in ages and the kids have been begging to go for quite some time. The twins are finally old enough to make the idea of camping with them fairly pleasant. So it was time.

We had a couple days off school for UEA last week and teamed up with another family for a fun little campout. We found this great little campground nearby - and despite the rather cold and somewhat sleepless night you pretty much need to count on with camping, we really had fun. All the kids are old enough to wander and explore a bit on their own and they LOVED climbing all over the sandstone rocks and hills right by our campsite. We hiked the gorgeous slot canyon there (it's the "dragon hike" we've been on before), hiked up to some Anasazi ruins, enjoyed a hot dog and marshmallow roast and a delicious breakfast and courtesy of our friends - and everyone got thoroughly dirty while having a wonderful time.

The boys in the light of the campfire -

our camp was right at the base of these great climbing rocks.

All the kids on the "dragon" -

weird and wonderful gnarled tree at the entrance to a gorgeous slot canyon

Here are a few of my highlights:

• seeing the kids totally entertained with nothing but rocks and sticks - watching them come up with all sorts of imaginative ideas as they explored the many little caves honeycombing the sandstone, checked out the Anasazi ruins, played in the trees and climbed up on top of a mountain of huge sandstone rocks
  
• everyone's faces in the soft light of the campfire light
• crisp cold morning air
• the looks of delight on the twins' faces as they got into the tent for the first time
• watching the kids have so much fun with their friends and while Jared and I enjoyed time with their parents
• seeing the huge yellowy moon come up over the mountain
• enjoying the vast blue sky against some spectacular red-rock scenery

Discussing strategy as they pretended to be Anasazi Indians -

this is an Anasazi grain silo built in around 600 AD.

OK, how beautiful is this place? I love that I live in the midst of this.

The gorgeous slot canyon where we went for a hike

We've got all our camping stuff organized now - so we'll have to go again soon. It's a lot of work to put things together and deal with all the dirt and discomfort involved, but I have to say the priceless memories are sure worth it!