Father's Day Flee Opening

For Father's Day Flee this year we went camping with our good friends, the Healeys, at Tushar Lake East of Beaver.  The camp-site was gorgeous and roomy and plenty big for our two families.   On one side was a rock wall (which the kids LOVED climbing) and right on the other side of that rock wall was the Lake.  You could also access the lake by walking around our campsite and down to the shore.  It was perfect because we were very  close to the lake but not close enough to where we would worry about the babies wandering in.  Our camping trip was fun but not very relaxing!  It was a lot of work and difficult with a toddler who kept falling down and getting filthy.  It made me wonder how we survived those camping trips we took with the kids when they were all really young! 

We arrived mid afternoon on Friday, set up camp, started a fire going and cooked our tinfoil dinners.  They took a bit of attention but they turned out pretty good.  The big ones turned out better than the small ones.    Then we made S'mores.  We were worried about the Healeys because we thought they were leaving that morning and expected them to beat us.  Rick drove all the way back down the canyon to call them since we didn't have cell phone service up there.  I guess Curtis ended up working that day and they didn't even leave until 4 or 5.  So they met Rick at the bottom of the mountain and they arrived around 10:30 p.m.  I had already put the four youngest to bed.  Jenna was the worst sleeper out of our family.  She would only go to sleep after I lay by her in the tent for about an hour.  Our tent is three smaller tents hooked together which makes little "rooms" for the kids.  The middle (and biggest one) was for me, Rick and Jenna.  The one to our left had the three boys and the one on our right had the three girls.  Jenna thought the tent was a great play area and kept going back and forth between all of the tents while climbing over everyone.  She was also the first one up -- before 7:00 a.m. -- putting her face right next to mine and patting me saying, "Mama!  Mama!" 

Saturday morning we cooked a big breakfast of eggs, hash-browns, and ham over our camp-stove.  The weather was beautiful and thankfully bugs were not a problem at all.  Our Father's Day Flee started with the "Dad's dance."  Then Rick gave the opening lesson on "What is worth fighting for?"  Our theme for this year was "Fortifying the Family"  and so the lessons and activities centered around "forts" and strengthening the family.