Earlier in the month, Connor had came to me and said he really wanted to go camping and hiking. We've had a pretty jam-packed summer scheduled so after talking to Caleb, we decided it was best to get that camping trip in sooner rather than later.
Caleb didn't do a lot of tent camping (outside of scout activities/campouts) growing up, so we started from scratch on some nearby campgrounds that would be good spots for our family campout. It was only about 25 minutes from our place so it worked out great. We figured if it was a total bust or if we forgot something, it wouldn't be miserable to drive home at that distance.
We arrived in the afternoon and were so pleased to find the perfect spot right off the creek!
(the caretakers said it was their favorite spot).
When I was a little girl, my favorite place to camp in Idaho was Sage Hen Reservoir. My sisters and cousins and I spent all our time wading the creeks and hiking the trails and jumping off docks. I secretly hoped my kids would play in the creeks. Alas, it was "toooo cooooold!!!!!" for their little bodies. They would only dip their feet in if I held their hands.
Evelynn was the bravest. She was much more excited about it when I told her all about my adventures when I was a little girl.
The kids and I got the tent set up while Caleb worked on the fire. I honestly wondered if it wasn't going to work at one point, but my man got it working!
This is the view from the picnic table. Creek right off the campground, and the sound of the water made me heart so happy I could nearly cry!
The creek ran right behind our tent, too. It was so relaxing and beautiful!
I typically don't think of camping as "camping" unless it includes Pine Trees, but the creek and it's sounds made up for it. Utah sure is a beautiful place (though I'll always be an Idaho girl).
When I had prepped some dinners to cook in the campfire, Connor had insisted he wouldn't eat my ideas. Then he saw a mac& cheese recipe, so that's what I made.
And it was a hit with these kiddos!
After dinner, we did s'mores. At that point, I wanted to start getting the kids ready for bed. I changed them into PJ's and then realized we had forgot something.... the sleeping bags!
Caleb ran home to get them (and boy were we glad we were so close to home!).
Connor went to sleep like he was told to, but the younger two were too excited. Evelynn especially. Camping always makes her overly excited. After Caleb got back, he wanted to go to sleep. I stayed up reading until around midnight then went to lay down as well. The younger two were STILL AWAKE!
I heard a weird noise that I figured was birds. There was a weird chittering sound, but I didn't think critters would come since the campgrounds were all really close together.
When I finally fell asleep after 1, Liam had fallen asleep as well.
I have ZERO idea when our little girl fell asleep.
The next morning Caleb woke up and went to start the fire to do breakfast. He was hardly out of the tent for more than a minute when we tells me we had visitors....
Apparently I'd forgotten to put a loaf of bread in the camping box. Raccoons got into it and ate the entire thing, knocked several other boxes around until they managed to finagle their way into a box with treats. They left a trail of wrappers to the creek. The stinkers!!!!!!
I started packing while Caleb worked on the fire. The wood was all damp and it took a miracle before it started (literally, I prayed for it to work).
While I packed and Caleb worked on food, the kids played by the creek. They found great amusement in throwing rocks and sticks into it!
After dinner we got the kids all changed into their outfits for the day and finished packing up camp.
My kids are kind-of on a funny face phase right now... This is the best you'll get.
Originally we had plans to go swim at the lake down the road and do a hike around it that supposedly exists, but it turned out to the a total bust. The reservoir was packed with people swimming, fishing, and boating, and we convinced the kids to just head home instead.
Needless to say, we're still on the hunt for a great family-friendly hike in the northern Utah area, and we're keeping the Box Elder campground in mind for the future (although we're still looking for more options as well)!
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