March Camping

The Thursday before Easter weekend, we decided to take the boys camping before it got too hot. We went up to the mountains near our house--Madera Canyon. It was a lot of fun. Being open range, we set the boys to work scooping up cow pies as soon as we got there.

 The next job was getting the fire going. I copped out and bought a starter log, but the darn thing woudl not light.  Luckily we were surrounded by dry weeds so after many trips to collect more, the boys finally got some steady flames going.

 With the fire going we could enjoy some fire danceing from Kimball :), soem yummy hot dogs, and we topped it off with s'mores.

 And of course, some roasted peeps.  I will always be grateful to Melissa Gurr for introducing that delicacy to me!

 And of course, out little pyros had fun all night throwing arm loads of dried grasses onto the flames and watching the fire explode.

After a not so restful night sleep (I can never sleep when camping, especially when owls are hooting all night), we woke up to a beautiful morning. It's just so nice to wake up in the great outdoors--even when you're exhausted.

 Those dead grasses picked the warm coals right back up into a great fire

 Warm fake milk--yoohoo, complete with cow piefuel. No one got sick from either of those.

Then a little game of football tag. If you got hit with the ball, you were it.

 Dad running for his life

 Dad made us a yummy breakfast of eggs and sausage which we made in to breakfast burritos.
He must have eaten way to much because part way through his meal he just tipped over backward.  I tried not to laugh as I made him stay on the ground while I got the camera :)

 These 2 friends of smokey the bear were great at putting out the fire.  Kimball used sand and Joey water, and together, they put it totally out...and probably filled up the fire pit a few inches.

As much as I don't like all the cleanup and tons of prep for camping, I am so glad we went.  It's so fun to hang out with your wonderful family--away from everything.

Jumps

Right in front of our little section of neighborhood someone built up some dirt hills for biking. The boys loved it! Luckily, Kimball spotted the rattlesnake and ran away fast before anyone was hurt. It slid into it's den and left us alone.  So the rest of the time we got to play without getting hurt.

 Scardy cat mom :)

 brave little boys

Then everyone started catching some air (except mom, but she's fine with that)

Surprise infestation and Peter's birthday

So last fall when Peter and I were hiking in the mountains, I found a really cool cocoon  It looked a little harder than most cocoons  but I thought, "they must need to be more tough out here in the desert." I brought it home and just set it on the window sill, thinking how fun it would be to have a butterfly in the spring.  Well, The first week of March I started noticing these tiny, little baby preying mantises around the kitchen  I had never seen a baby one and I kept thinking how strange that they were getting in the house.  By the 10th one, the light bulb was finally starting to fire on and I realized I better look up exactly y what type of "cocoon" I had brought home.  Well, you guessed it. It was not a cocoon at all but a preying mantis egg sac which contains up to 200 babies. Aye, yae, yae. I just hope all the rest left willing and are not waiting for months in the cupboards somewhere ..ready to attack when they're full grown.  

Lesson learned:  if you're going to bring home a "cocoon," at least keep it in a lidded jar.

The morning of Peter's birthday we decided to take home to see the waterfall the boys and I had discovered.  It was a beautiful day and fun to splash around in the water.

 The boys loved walking though and jumping over the stream.

 After the waterfall, we went to check out the campsites there for the next weekend. It is all open range, so there were lots of cows and cow pies on the sites

 Since Peter is not a "cake person," I have to be creative for his birthday.  These are rapberyy sweet rolls.  They were sooo good.

 Candy from the boys.