Friday, June 15, 2012

Camping Trip 2012

This past Monday after swim lessons we packed up and hit the road to the mountains to go camping for the night. Our good friends, the Altman Family, came up with the idea on Saturday of doing a 1 night camping trip together. Well as many of you already know we have a lot going on right now so all I could hear was this voice saying “no way we don’t have time to go camping”. After giving it some thought, I decided a camping trip is exactly what we all needed. A peaceful trip in the mountains, away from technology, quality time with the family, and 24 hours spent with friends we love. I absolutely LOVE camping.

After lots of text messages and back and forth phone calls, Kaitlyn and I came up with the plans for meals and snacks and who would bring what, we finally had it all planned. Not bad in my opinion for having about 36 hours to prepare for the trip. Camping is quite a bit of work but well worth it. We met at the Altman’s at 12:30pm on Monday and caravanned up to the Jemez Mountains. We really had no clue where we were going to camp at we just decided to drive up and find a spot we liked.

(WARNING: There are A TON of pictures)

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Didn’t take the kids long to pass out since they were both exhausted from swim lessons.

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And there was Brandon playing follow the leader.

After driving to 3 different camping spots we decided on one at about 2:30pm. It was PERFECT! We had the entire site to ourselves and there was a nice creek about 20 feet from our camp site, perfect for 3 kids and 2 dogs! We set up our tents, chairs, and picnic area and started enjoying our time….

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Here is Fenton Lake. We didn’t end up camping there but I did snap a quick picture of it. I know a lot of people complain about New Mexico being so “brown” but it really is a beautiful State brown or not! Sorry, I have to defend my home state!

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See what I mean when I said camping is a lot of work. Haha, and this is just for 1 night!

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Kaitlyn was so sweet and bought the kids some Bug Magnifying Glasses, a Net and some Bubbles. Owen and Olivia were off exploring the second we arrived!

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The Altman Family also brought along their awesome dogs Chloe and Tucker.

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So while the guys (Brandon, Owen and Matt) went to walk down and pay for our site for the night, Kaitlyn and I got right to work putting up the tents. The guys were very impressed with our handy skills when they got back! Way to go Kait, we ROCK!

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The kids were fascinated with the tents so they insisted on having their snack in the tent. Lol.

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And here is the AWESOME creek that was feet from our campsite. It was so nice listening to the water as we were falling asleep. Did I mention how much I LOVE camping?!?!

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Even though the water was freezing, it didn’t stop the kids from getting in!

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Taking a break to blow some bubbles

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Matt and Kaitlyn made Hot Dogs and brought Potato Salad for Dinner and I made a giant Fruit Bowl to go with Dinner and Breakfast the next morning. Yummy! Nothing like eating in the mountains.

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For those who are wondering, we did not plan Owen & Olivia’s matching outfits. Kaitlyn and I just apparently think alike when it comes to camping attire! Too funny, they though it was so cool that they matched.

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After dinner we all headed out on a nice walk.

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When we got back from our walk the guys went to gather some more wood for our campfire for dessert!

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All ready for smores!

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Brandon and Matt quickly turned smore making into a competition to see who could make the perfect marshmallow! Silly boys!

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We even pulled out the stove to make some good ole Jiffy Pop Popcorn.

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The kiddos all bundled up and ready for a night sleeping in their tents. Autumn was the luckiest one and had her pack n play to sleep in. Thank goodness we have a huge tent. Lol

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Poor Olivia was having a hard time sleeping in the tent by herself while the adults were playing card games so she came out to join us. She is such a sweetie pie!

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And before we called it a night us ladies made one more potty trip while the guys made sure the fire was out.

The next morning we all woke up about 7:30ish. The guys stared the fire to warm up the Breakfast Burritos I made while Kaitlyn and I set the kids up to eat their cereal.

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Waking up ready to go get some breakfast. Owen had a blast sleeping in his Lightning McQueen Sleeping Bag between Mommy and Daddy!

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Owen was so excited when he spotted a caterpillar. He immediately had to bust out his magnifying glass.

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Can you tell which one is a ‘morning person’ and which isn’t?

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After we all ate we started packing up camp.

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I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of Brandon and Owen!!!!

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The kids pretty much ran around in circles while we were busy packing everything up

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And by 11am the van was loaded and Barney was on….time to head home :(

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Farewell Jemez Mountains

Even though it was only a 24 hour trip, we had a BLAST!!!!! The trip was well worth all the time and effort we put into it and I can’t tell you how much our family needed this little getaway. Thanks again Altman family for the wonderful idea and invitation, we had a great time with you all. We will cherish this time we got to spend together. Love you guys so so so so much!!!!!

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