Hiking and camping we go!

Last weekend we headed down to Sac for a quick weekend trip.  We first stopped off at Lover's Leap for a hike.  It was a beautiful day to hike although windy near the top.  You wouldn't have wanted to get blown off this peak, so we kept our distant from the edge.  Sorry I don't have the story on why this is called Lover's Leap... but I bet I could make something good up!

 We next drove further down the road towards Sacramento and set up camp at a campsite along the way.  There had been a mountain lion sighting there this summer, but it didn't scare us off!  First order of business: Set up the hammock and enjoy some lazy time! Yeah right.  Camping with (young) kids is way different... and yet still enjoyable!  We swung a few times and then headed down to the river to throw rocks in and play.

After a delicious frito pie dinner, we took a walk around the area collection firewood and then the boys went to work!  My boy scout-ish husband thought it would be fun to light a fire without any lighter fluid or matches.  So using just some dry leaves, twigs and the warm coals already left in the fire pit, he worked hard at starting our fire.

But with a lot of lung power (and of course his cute little helper sidekick) they got one started!

Our lovely campsite

Chloe was ready for s'mores

She had had her fill of dirt

The "Attic" chair definitely came in handy while our men stood watch over the blaze

And we got to roast marshmallows and put them on graham crackers with hershey's chocolate! "Check it out!" Nate says.  Chloe just wants it in her mouth. 

Pure deliciousness!  Joe and I probably made a parenting error with allowing our kids to consume one of these right before bedtime... but hey, we're camping!  We definitely paid for it when it took the kiddos ages to fall asleep.

Then for some reason I forgot that we live in Tahoe and that it gets cold.  You would think I would remember this after almost 3 years.  Oh well.  I had forgotten sweatshirts for myself and the kiddos and we were COLD the next morning as I had only packed summer clothes thinking of the Sacramento heat!  We found a beanie for Nate in the car and wrapped him in a sleeping bag.

We decided to forgo cooking breakfast there and just get on the road and to some warmer weather!  We put the kids in the hammock in a sleeping bag while we hurriedly packed up camp!

We ended up hitting up a Starbucks and heading to a local park to cook up our eggs and such.  I didn't take any pictures of it, but it was a beautiful park with a wonderful playground!  Then we were on to the zoo!!!  

The Attic

I am a bargain shopper.  You can find some really great stuff at GoodWill.  Unfortunately, our closest one is in North Carson.  But, I have discovered a great thrift store in town called The Attic.  I headed there last Friday with the kids to look for some mugs for a project with our Married Couples Group and ended up with some other great finds.

 $1 for this easel  

$0.50 for this mini folding chair... great for our upcoming camping trip

$.25 for this little wooden stool.  A sanding job and a new paint job and it will be great for our upstairs bathroom.

I seriously am going to have to come here more often.  The kids were highly entertained with all the toys in the side yard.  They played here for over an hour!

I have to admit, even though the most expensive item, this easel was the best purchase!  The kids have had lots of fun playing with it so far.  And, it has two sides so there isn't a whole lot of fighting over who is playing with it.

Chloe had to come over to check out Nate's side.

And he wanted to see what was going on in her realm.

Round hill hike

The other day I took the kids up Round Hill with my friend Tony and his daughter.  This was one of the first hikes I've taken both kids on where I was not carrying both of them.  Since its a shorter hike, I thought either Nate or Chloe could be walking some of the time.  It was fun, but lets just say I'm glad I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time because it definitely took longer than normal!

Also, I think its important for you to see our feet after this hike.  We don't get rain too often here so it gets pretty dirty on the trails.  But we like to get down and dirty!

Haircut or Bieber look?

I haven't quite decided if we should give Nate a fall haircut or just let him roll with the times and have long shaggy hair like Justin Bieber.  What do you think?

Dance party

We have a lot of dance parties around these parts.  Our musical selections can be anything ranging from Jon McLaughlin or Kelly Clarkson to Mozart, the Lion King or Taylor Swift.  Nate is a big fan of "Fearless" these days.  He is just a big singer in general.  Anyway, we know how to work it... and even Chloe gets out there and jumps and twirls! 

They like to create some of their own music as well.  It takes two people of their height to cover all the keys.

Zion trip: Day 5

I think that Chloe looks a bit like what I have to look forward to when she is a teenager.  "Leave me alone mom! I don't want to get up yet!" 

Nate looked so sweet curled up on top of his sleeping bag in the corner.

Nate was up early and out exploring.

The college girls were headed out to do a short hike before heading back to school.  It was so fun to have them around!  Sometimes I think I'm still a college student... just with two kids.

We stopped to take a couple photos by a fun little "ghost town" of sorts where there were animals and such.  Mommy was too cheap to pay the $1 entrance fee because we were only going to be there a few minutes, so we just enjoyed watching the animals from the outside of the fence.

The road trip back was long and uneventful.  Quite a repeat of the few days before.  Chloe had a sore on the heel of one foot from where she got run over by Nate's truck the day we left so we were unable to put shoes on her during our stops.  As a result, her feet were incredibly dirty by the end of the trip and she thought it was really weird.  She couldn't stop looking at them.

 We were on the road for over 12 hours and in 4 states!  Its amazing how far only and inch and a half on a map can be!

This is a fun conglomeration of some of Chloe's different faces on the trip.

Sorry we didn't take any photos of Nathaniel Lee... but he was quite a trooper!

Zion trip: Day 4

The next day we were planning on having a leisurely breakfast of eggs and pancakes, but apparently where we had decided to camp was covered in ants!  The kids ate on the hood of the car while we hurried to make coffee, clean up breakfast, pack up camp and skidaddle!

The girls came to borrow our trekking poles cause they were headed to hike part of the Narrows that day and the poles were LIFE SAVERS for us.  I would fallen or twisted an ankle numerous times without them.
                                                                    

First stop: Back in the river for "baths".  We all stripped down to mostly our underwear and submerged ourselves in the chilly water of the Virgin river.  It felt glorious!

Then we loaded up some lunch and hit up the shuttle to take us to the beginning of our hike for the day... Emerald Pools.  This was actually the hike that Joe and I and our two friends, Becki and Katie, did over 7 years ago on a Spring Break trip before Joe and I were even engaged.  

Here is a photo from that trip....

...and here is the one from our current trip!  

Its been an incredible 7 years!  

A lady and her two older children were there at this point and took the photo for us and were not too keen on us going out on this ledge.  We had to explain that we were not crazy and did not want to endanger our children, but just wanted to mimic a photo we had taken in the past pre-kids.  I'm glad she didn't call CPS on us.

The top of the two Emerald Pools was nothing amazing to behold but there were some people repelling from above that waterfall which was neat to watch.  Can you see them in this photo?

There were also a few mormon families that were on the trail with us.  One with 11 children, one with 7... and I'm not sure about the other family.  Let me just tell you... kids EVERYWHERE!  But one of dads took a photo for us.  

This was taken looking back on the lower Emerald Pools trail as we headed out on the Grotto trail.

I just can't get over how beautiful these amazing rock walls are......and my dashing young(ish) husband!

I'm sure Nate was singing around this point.

A look back up the valley 

Where's Waldo..I mean, Emily?

Did you find me?

We rewarded ourselves by going for soft serve ice-cream at the Lodge afterwards and playing around on the grass.

Leaving the park

We headed out and found a great camping spot on the side of the road on some BLM land.  Yes, this means that we had made and broken down camp 5 days in a row in 5 different locations.  Please notice in this picture that Chloe is sitting on our "time out" rock in the middle of the campsite.

It was an awesome place of stellar views though to watch the sunset and the almost full moon rise.

When the girls finished their hike, we fed them frito pie for dinner and they ended up camping right next to us.  Notice in this picture that Nate is now on the "time out" rock.

We roasted marshmallows over the camp stove for s'mores and had a lovely evening of chatting and looking at the stars.  This was the only night we were able to get out of the tent after the kiddos fell asleep.  A great day!