Adventures with Little Monsters

We had a great time (most of the time) camping and celebrating my (gasp!) 35th birthday.

Here's the campsite. For some reason, I have a knack of picking the best spot in the campground when I reserve online. This spot ended up being perfect. It fit our enormous tent and was far away from the other campers so that hopefully my little monsters didn't bother them too much!

Braedn showing off the camping site number and our name (which he is covering up).

This fox visited Chris before we came up. The animal had no fear, just walked right up to him. He thought it might be smart to hang in the car for a little while. We saw another one the last morning we were there. Thayne started saying "Kitty - Doggie". Finally I looked over my shoulder and there was another fox standing there watching us (a little smaller than this one). He smartly decided that he was no match for my little animals and left pretty quickly.


We were only a couple minutes or so walk from the Payette River. Lots of the other campgrounds in the area were right on the river. I'm glad we had some room so that I didn't have to watch the boys like a hawk. The rivers are VERY full this year.

Braedn hanging in the dirt. He didn't get QUITE as filthy as he did last year.


Thayne drinking out of his cool camping cup.

Since I knew the campground was paved, I let Braedn bring his bicycle. It was a big loop, so he just went around and around. Seems like he's finally getting the hang of it and is willing to go much faster. Thayne brought his favorite toy of all time - his dump truck!


This is camping in the 21st century. We didn't have cell phone access, but we did watch movies. (Thanks for the player Mamaw and Granddad!)

Hmmm - let me see, your shoe fell off and you need to go pee? (Mothers are so smart!)

The boys back from the bathroom...

Just up the road, there were some pond for fishing. Chris caught like 40 fish before we even came up (20 in one hour). Alas, the weather changed once we got there (really overcast) so they didn't bite as much. They still pulled in like 5 or so. Braedn casts better than I do (that's not saying much), but just doesn't have the patience to reel in slowly (think bat out of hell). So he only ended up fishing with his pole for about a half hour when Dad gave up and just let him reel them in.

I see my future in this picture. The boys out fishing with day all day, and me doing what I like to do best up camping - reading and relaxing!

Love this pic!

A fish!!

LOVE this video of the boys catching a fish:

Thayne out hiking while the boys fish.

Thayne comtemplating nature. My mother will be so proud of her grandsons. They spent the rides up looking out the window at the scenery (unlike me when I was little - always with my nose in a book. I can hear her now "Kary - you're missing everything!" Me: "Look Mom - trees, mountains, flowers - can I get back to reading now?)

Thayne's favorite pasttime this camping trip "Washing hands". I.e. making Mom or Dad pump a lot of water.

Campfire! What's a campfire without marshmallows??

You can tell how hot it was. It's 10PM and Thayne is still in his shirtsleeves.

Lots of roughhousing still...

LOVE a little boy in a hat!

On Saturday we decided to drive around a check out the area. We saw this deer drinking on a road into another campground.

This picture is specifically for my brother who snobbishly said "What kind of camping is there in Idaho? It can't be like Colorado." So you're right Rich, it's not as high (the peak here tops out at around 9000 feet - but it starts much lower too). But it is just as beautiful. This a view of the Sawtooths from Stanley Lake. This great basin did remind me of Colorado.

Hot chocolate with Daddy before driving home.

Overall it was a pretty good trip. Thayne still had challenging moments. Each year it gets better with them though. Looking forward to next year (I might just get a little time to myself...)

-Kary