Sooo it's no secret that the Izatts travel a lot... as in road trips to see family and friends, which we love! But we aren't very good at taking trips juuuust the six of us. So we decided to start a new summer tradition of a few days as a family on a trip! We pondered cruise/Hawaii/Disney/etc but then realized that what REALLY bonds six people together is bugs, sweat, dirt, sleeping on the ground, and a lack of plumbing.
So camping it was!
We picked the week of our anniversary, since our kids-free trip to El Paso counted as our spring/summer getaway. This was my nature-y nod to our 14th anniversary and before we left I posted this on instagram as a caption to a picture of me and Chuck: 14 years of marriage (tomorrow!) to this hot guy who has now sweet talked me into biking to church four Sundays in a row 👀🚴🏻♀️👗🛐. This year has probably brought more gratitude and less taking each other and our marriage for granted ... and as always, plenty of patience on Chuck’s part as I’m borderline certifiable 😏🤪💁🏻♀️. Posting early because a) if Singapore goes poorly we mightn’t make it to Tuesday 🙅🏻♀️😬 and b) all six Izatts are heading off grid til Thursday 👋🏼📵🏕 because when Chuck asked how long I’d want to go camping for, I said two nights and he promptly booked three 🤔😂. See y’all later ✌🏼.
As always, we left later than planned which led to setting up tents in not as much light as would be ideal. At least it wasn't legit dark and done by flashlight! Been there, done that...
Kids were up early for some Uno while Chuck made breakfast.
Everyone very wisely let me sleep in ;).
Everything's prettier and more photogenic in the mountains, am I right? Oh yeah, except my kids haha.
We organized for a lovely traipse around the reservoir, documented by both Chuck's and my phones, so please enjoy the million of pictures to follow. I don't believe in putting away my camera and "enjoying" the "moment" and being "present" and all that. Highly overrated ;).
I challenged the kids to find various 'scavenger hunt' type items in nature, including sticks that resembled the letters their names start with - Will had the biggest challenge, but he found one! That, granted, he held upside down for the picture ;).
They also had to find heart shaped rocks - I loooove finding rocks in cool shapes.
So we all know that family vacations really just means yelling at your kids in a more exotic or foreign locale, which was DEFINITELY true of this camping trip... but there were also tons of really fun and sweet moments - like these where Clyde helped Will up and down an area so they could sit on the big rock together.
These four yahoos really do get along remarkably well - when they want to. And out in the middle of nowhere, sans friends/screens/separate rooms - they wanted to!
Gourmet lunch and a FARKLE PARTY, wooooo! Chuck picked up this random dice game but we hadn't had a chance to play it yet so we brought it along. Holy moly, it was addictive. We all loved it and very solemnly decided it would be a camping trip-ONLY game to preserve its specialness.
After lunch and games, it was back down to the water to let crazy kids swim and play in the chilliness. Our early June trip was fantastic for avoiding the caterpillars but possibly not the best plan for the water being refreshing - it was freeeeeezing.
Then it was time for more games, running around in the wild, dinner, and s'mores. Pretty solid end to the day in my opinion.
Will took a more hands-on role for Wednesday's meals as part of his... Webelos requirements? I think. Also, life/camping hack: make the pancake batter at home and take it up in a gallon ziploc. You're welcome.
The kids headed out to explore and play hide and seek after breakfast. I relaxed after a tiring morning of sleeping in and eating (not preparing... at all...) breakfast with some campfire side reading.
We joined in a few times and played hide and seek - I almost died laughing when I found Carma and Jack under this rock haha.
Another day, another walk around the water...
Aaaaand more Farkle party! And many, many grapes in Will's mouth. Oh, and fun story: we managed to leave the duffle bag containing Will's and Jack's clothes at home, whooooops. Blessedly their swimsuits were in the swim bag... but their outfits the rest of the time were comprised of shirts/shorts generously lent by Clyde and me. Don't ask about the underwear situation. It's not necessary to change that regularly whilst camping, riiiight?
Back down to the lake? reservoir? whatever? that afternoon:
It was apparently a little warmer... or maybe the boys had just acclimated at this point... but either way they were much more keen on jumping in the water. Repeatedly.
Clyde...
Will:
Jack was a little more cautious haha.
Clyde and Will together - their attempts to run and jump in together were hilarious to watch, as Clyde consistently reached the end of the dock first haha:
Don't worry, I have about a dozen videos of these jumps as well, many in slo-mo.
Mmm, tin foil dinners one night - also tended to by Willy boy.
Carma was obviously in her element - three big brothers to be entertained by, lots of dirt to practically bathe in, and lots of chances to help gather firewood and be a helper!
Oh man, Carma vs. the S'more. I love how you could tell she wanted to be mad that we were all laughing at her but couldn't actually maintain the grumpy face haha.
Sticks... and also fire... what else could three Izatt boys wish for?
Will's favorite part of the trip was probably the night that he and Chuck stayed up extra late star gazing and frog hunting down by the water. Pretty sweet memories made.
I'm definitely a reluctant camper - Chuck will attest to the fact that he does ALL the prep and meals and set up and packing - but I do love the trees and fresh air and lack of cell phone/internet service. As much as I cherish living in a state of denial, the truth is that my yahoo kids are growing up and we only have a few more summers with all four of them together and at home, and this was a lovely chance to cut us all off from the world and just hang out as a wee family.
No comments:
Post a Comment