Camping in the White Mountains

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

Alice immediately went to work picking wildflowers

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).

Little Things :: May

We had Colby's best friend, Justin, over for a play date. We just found out they're moving back to Michigan and we're going to miss their family so much. Three years isn't long enough for friends like these.

Colby had the flu and missed his last week of school. Star Wars comic books helped make a lousy week a little more bearable. 

Colby speaks

• Robb told Colby that bella means beautiful. "We have three bellas in our family...They're bellas and we're fellas!"
• "Do you want to watch a YouTube video on how to teach little sisters to play Mario Kart Wii?"

I wanted to help the kids understand the difference between cities and states, so we made a map of our town and talked about how there are lots of cities in each state, and lots of states in our country. Then we checked out google maps. I'm not sure they got the point, but we had fun.

 Alice speaks

• "Pretty princesses don't clean up 'cause they're too busy dancing. They have to do everything pretty, They don't do projects...except exciting projects."
• "Here's a hat to wear at our tea party so you don't get food on your head. I don't need a hat because only grown ups get food on their heads, not kids."
• To me after I didn't clear my dishes "When you don't clear your dishes it means that you're a kid."

Claire and the double-crown she insisted on wearing

Claire's new words

• "Ahh dah"= all done
• Uh-oh
• "Wha-dis" while pointing her finger= what's this?
• She signs more when we ask to say please and yesterday when we asked her to say please (instead of screeching) she only had one hand free, so she improvised. She made a fist and lightly punched herself in the face. 

Colby Graduates from ECC

My little boy is growing up.

I'm realizing it slowly, like when I drag over the stool so Colby can help with dinner and find he can reach the counter fine on his own. Or when Alice asks for a story and I'm busy and I look over 5 minutes later to see Colby reading it for me.

He'll start Kindergarten in August as a Sahuarita Primary School Owl. There are so many little kids around here that they split the elementary schools: SPS is K-2 and SIS is 3-5. There will be 12 Kindergarten classes alone. 12!

Anyway, Colby's preschool had a little graduation ceremony and he wasn't really excited about going. The boys were leaving for the Father and Son camp-out immediately after and he didn't quite trust us when we said the ceremony would be short.

We lasted a grand total of 15 minutes. The place was packed. The invitation said due to lack of space, please limit guests to immediate family, but a couple families ignored that rule completely (one corner of the room had at least 15 aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents for one kid). 

Colby didn't want to go up and get his diploma, so his sweet teacher, Ms. Tabitha, brought it to him. We were so blessed for Colby to be in her class this year. She did so many little things specially to help him stay focused and engaged (like picking out silly stories and having the class practice sight words during reading time, so he wouldn't get bored). We are going to miss her and all of the wonderful teachers at the Early Childhood Center.

On to Kindergarten!

Colby doing the traditional "gaze into future" graduation pose

A Pair of Canyons

We sat down to plan out the next couple months of camping and realized we don't have a free weekend until June. 

No camping until June--what a depressing thought. To make ourselves feel better we decreed all Fridays from henceforth be hiking days (except next Friday when we'll all visit the dentist). 

Our first hike was through Hidden Canyon. It was supposed to be 1.5 miles...but it was more like 2.3 (according to Robb's phone). 

To distract the kids from their tired feet, we started teaching them the different names of cactus and other plants along the trail. The desert really is a beautiful place and I love sharing it with them.

Mandatory snack break

Almost everything blooms in the desert if you catch it at the right time

Today we hiked Honeybee Canyon, a 2 mile hike in a wash/trail running past some petroglyphs. 

Alice had a rough start (Bah-boo was missed in the car, she didn't want to use the bathroom, and she didn't want to hike), but she warmed up as soon as we got going. 

 Alice and I trailing behind the boys

 While stopping at a 200 year old dam built by sheep farmers, Colby leaned over and said "Look at the beautiful world!"

 "Take a picture of me, Mom!"

 Both kids kept sneaking off the trail to do a little rock climbing. "Let's explore the world!" or "wohd" in Alice's case

Death Star Play Dough!!!

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Colby's first blog post