First Camping 2017

This weekend was really fun. Friday night, we went camping. I was feeling kind of down and non-energetic that whole day, but I made myself get packed. Havelock and Allopex drove out with us to have game night with Grig around the campfire. It was really fun. We got the tent set up and then Grig started the fire while I went back into town to get a few more things that we needed.

After I got back, we ate hot dogs over the fire while our cherry cobbler cooked. Then, while Grig played D&D with his brothers, Kevin and I explored around the lake. We went on two different walks. The first time, we took Siff, who was an excellent camping dog. I was so proud of her. We only tied her up at night while we slept. The rest of the time, she stayed right with us (unless Arkhon wandered off, and then she followed him).

She would walk ahead of us on the trail, and then stop and wait for us to catch up. She was pretty great.

Then, on the next trip, we gave Arkhon a chance to walk with us. He wandered a bit more, but he never ran off. I just had to call him back a lot more. The coolest thing happened when we were walking back to the campsite. Arkhon, who was walking ahead of us, suddenly stopped and stared down the dirt bank into a field to our left. He completely froze, his eyes intent, and his ears pricked up.

I said, “What do you see, bud? Do you see something?”

He didn’t move. I told him to “Hold” and put my hand on his back, as I did, his front right leg slowly pulled up into a perfect point. I wish I'd had my camera at that point. It was awesome!

Arkhon has never pointed before. I praised him, patted his back some more and then told him to leave it. He did, and we continued on our journey.

We got home, and ate some cobbler. It turned out pretty awesome. It was a nice way to use some frozen cherries from our tree last year.

A little while after, I put Kevin to bed. He didn’t want to go to sleep while his dad and uncles were talking outside of the tent, so I laid down with him. I wanted to fall asleep with him, but I was too cold. He had nice warm pajamas and a blanket, but I had forgotten to bring my sweater. So, after Kevin fell asleep, I went back out and sat by the fire until the brothers left, and then Grig and I talked for a while and went to bed.

I didn’t sleep very well. Grig and Kevin seemed plenty warm, but I was freezing. A while later, Kevin woke up and rolled over to his dad. They both cuddled up together, so I took the sleeping bag that Kevin had been laying on and closed it, with me inside. I finally warmed up enough to go to sleep, but then some teenagers at a nearby campsite began to be really loud and set the dogs off.

Despite the occasional barking, I have found that I love camping with dogs. When I was younger, I liked camping, but if I woke up during the middle of the night I would have a hard time going back to sleep because I'd start listening too closely to the night life. I'd freak myself out and worry about being eaten by bears.

With dogs though, as long as they're not riled, you know that you are safe.

The next day I woke up around 7:30, only to find that Grig already had the fire going and breakfast mostly made. He’s pretty awesome. We ate and I sat by the fire to finish warming up. Grig decided to pick up all the garbage that had been left by previous campers. Did I mention that he’s awesome?

Then, we put on shorts and went wading in the water around the lake. It snowed and rained so much this year, that the reservoir was overflowing. We had to wade about a quarter mile to get near enough to the edge of the lake to where we camped last time. It was awesome and Kevin loved it.

The dogs had a great time too. The water was surprisingly warm. I wanted to swim, but I wasn’t dressed for it. Arkhon was a fantastic swimmer though, and Siff got more comfortable with it as we went, though she didn’t like it when she couldn’t touch the bottom.

Eventually, Kevin got cold and hungry, so we went back and had sandwiches. After that, everyone was about ready to go home, but Grig wanted to see if he could catch a frog first, so we drove over to one of the more boggy areas around the lake and he went out exploring for a while.

Kevin was tired and didn’t want to leave the car, so I stayed with him and the dogs while Grig explored. Grig didn’t end up catching a frog, but he had a good time.

We came home and took turns taking naps because we wore ourselves out.

Family Home Evening Hilarity

Last night we were having Family Home Evening, and we were talking about Easter. We watched a short video about Palm Sunday and the last Supper. Then, I tried to tell Kevin about how Heavenly Father and Jesus loved us.

I said, "Heavenly Father and Jesus created the earth. They sent Kevin to earth..."

Kevin promptly interrupted me. "I'm not on earth," he told me adamantly.

"You're not?" I asked with amusement.

"No," he said, "earth has too much water. I don't want to walk on the earth. It's too blue! It's too watery! It's too...it's too...it's too water on the earth."

Grig and I started laughing, and he became a bit angry, "Don't laugh!" he told us.

"Sorry," I apologized. "So, Heavenly Father and Jesus sent Kevin to the ground..."

"No!" Kevin protested again. "I don't walk on the earth. To the grass. I walk in the grass."

At this, Grig and I tried to contain our mirth again, but he was just too cute!

So, evidently Heavenly Father and Jesus sent Kevin to the grass because the earth has too much water.

He recognizes pictures of the earth, but I don't think he quite understands that we're on it yet.

So this morning, I took him on a tour of google earth and showed him our home from the street view. Then we went to earth view and zoomed out until he could see the entire globe. Afterward, he said, "I DO live on the earth!"

I love our son. He's really at a fun (if sometimes frustrating) age right now.

Sometimes he's so sweet and helpful, and other times it's like he's progressed to being a teenager. He can be really moody and get angry in an instant. However, we're really beginning to learn what an incredible person Kevin is, and for that, I am very grateful. I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Not even more sleep.

Hot and Cold Rivers

One of the things that we are looking forward to on our trip back east, is swimming in the river. The rivers on the east coast are quite warm. Last time we were there, we went in May and I could have stayed in the water all day. This year, we are going in June, and Grig says the water can be as warm as a bathtub.

Conversely, the river water where we live is very cold, especially since the snow is still melting in the mountains. The run-off makes the rivers quite chilly. This weekend when we went to visit the geese again (see this week's video), we decided to go swimming since it was fairly warm the week before. However, when we showed up at the dam this time, the water was much deeper and chillier.

Though Kevin and I waded into it a few times, Grig found it much too cold. We enjoyed ourselves though.

I'm used to swimming in cold water. I've never had anything else. As long as you keep moving, your body adjusts to it. It is rare that the water doesn't eventually feel warm to me after a while.

When I was a kid, we used to go to this swimming pool where they had a cool tub and a hot tub. The cold tub was freezing and the hot tub was pretty hot (thus the names), and our favorite game as kids was to run back and forth between the two and see if we could stand the temperature change.

Now I know that's not very good for your nerves, but we found it pretty fun as kids for some reason.

Grig and I were discussing why it is that water feels warmer after you are swimming around in it for a while. I tried to research to see if my theory was correct, but I haven't found anything to confirm or deny it yet.

My theory is that as you enter cold water, you blood kind of pulls inward to keep your core temperature warm. So, your limbs are allowed to cool down a bit. As your limbs cool, the temperature of the water doesn't change, but your arms are cooler and so the water feels warmer simply by contrast.

That's my theory anyway. If anyone finds anything to prove or disprove that, I'd be happy to read it. Sometimes I just go through life guessing why things work.

That's pretty much it for today. We're just super-excited for our trip!

Swimming with Kevin

 Yesterday, we had a birthday party for my Uncle.  We enjoyed a nice swim at the local water park.  Kevin loves water.  It wasn't super warm, but he enjoyed swimming in it for a couple hours until he started to get cold. 
Grig's brother has been living with us, and he and Kevin get along great.  So, for part of the party Grig and I went down the water slides while Kevin enjoyed being with his uncle.  There were two slides.  One was very curvy and longer, and at first Grig and I wanted to slide down that one because we thought the other slide was just for kids.  However, when we got to the top, it turned out that all the kids were on the curvy slide, and the straight slide had only older kids on it.

So, after we went down once, and found out that the curvy slide was pretty slow, we went and grabbed Kevin and took him down a couple times.  He was really cute.  His hair was sticking up in all directions, and a few of the kids on the slide to a fancy to him.  One little boy called him 'fluffy-head' and patted him on the head.  Kevin loved it!  He loves other kids.

Then, we handed Kevin back to his uncle, and went down the straight slide.  It wasn't until I'd launched myself that I realized what I'd gotten into.  The straight slide was straight...with a 20 foot sheer drop.  I ended up screaming on the way down.  It was great!

So, we did it again.  Of course, we didn't bring Kevin on that one, and soon after he got cold so we had to leave for the dinner party.  We had a great time!