Our long awaited camping weekend finally arrived and almost every place we wanted to see was on fire. So we looked out a bit farther and discovered the White Mountains. We're still not sure if the mountain is named after the White River which runs nearby or if it comes from the white bark of the Aspen trees that cover it, but a trip there was exactly what our sun-scorched family needed (Sahuarita temperatures were 114-119 degree this week).
Ashley, Aaron, and I worked a shift at the Tucson Temple Open House this weekend. They guided two tours inside the Temple and I worked as EMS (my shift mainly consisted of passing out water bottles to the people on parking duty and encouraging everyone to drink more). Robb babysat all the kids, packed all our camping gear up (because he's awesome like that), and was ready to go when we got home.
It was a five hour drive, so two and half movies and a Little Caesars pizza later we pulled into our campsite. Another winner! Claire threw up on the drive up after an hour of twisty mountain roads, so that's why she's missing her shirt.
She recovered pretty quickly once we got her outside.
This might be my favorite picture series of all time
Our kids love being outside
We got the kids to sleep pretty easily. Alice and Claire have shared a room for the last two months and it really paid off last night. They were right next to each other in the tent and it didn't phase them.
When we camp with someone as often as we've camped with the Bloods, you start to form traditions. As soon as the kids are tucked for the night, we break out the boardgames. Ashley and Aaron introduced us to Splender, a game where you purchase and sell jewels in the hopes of attracting patrons. It was really fun and might replace Citadels as the new camping game.
Then we turned out all the lights and looked at the stars. It might be the best star gazing I've ever had. The White Mountains are about two hours away from any cities and there was no moon that night. I read somewhere that experiences that cause you to feel awe and wonder help you to be more compassionate. I can't wait for the kids to get a little older so I can share this with them because nothing else leaves me feeling as awed as gazing at the heavens.
The next morning we tried driving out to hike to an old abandoned cabin, but the road was a little rougher than we expected.
We decided a new hike was preferable to a punctured oil pan or flat tire.
So we ended up hiking on a trail two minutes from our campsite.
Alice had all the wildflowers her heart desired
Signing us into the guestbook
Elliot was not feeling the hike at first
There were butterflies everywhere
And we ended with lunch back at our campsite (note that Ashley is such a trooper for coming camping with us while pregnant).
