Lizards and cactus and tarantulas, oh my!

So last Wednesday night at about 8:00 pm, we decided to join a group of friends that were going to Zion National Park the next day! For anyone who knows Lance, this is kind of a big deal....'spontaneity' is not his strongest characteristic! :) He worked a half day on Thursday, came home and loaded up the camping gear and we were off. We said we were going to leave at 12:30 - which actually turned into 2:30...sigh....oh well, at least we were 'getting away!'

After many, many stops - getting ice for the cooler, stopping to get a late lunch, potty breaks, filling up the gas tank, pulling over because the luggage thingamajig on the roof opened up, more potty breaks and cleaning up Anna's puke (she frequently gets car sick....#somuchfun!) we finally rolled into the campground about 8:00 pm. And setting up the tent in the dark, that always brings a smile......It was at this point that I discovered we forgot: bowls and cups, socks for Noah, heavier coats for Lance and me, Lance's toothbrush, Lance's fleece pajama bottoms, socks for Joey and extra blankets. This is gonna be great. :)

Since we only own one cot, Lance let me use it on this trip - I know, such a gentleman :) - and the first night I didn't blow my camping pad up enough and it felt sort of like being in a hot dog bun. At some point in the night Anna got scared and crawled up in there with me...we became two hot dogs in one bun.

The campground was huge with lots of room to run and play. Joey, being the bug/insect/animal officionado that he is, found this guy and a smaller one as well. 


All the kids were SO enthralled with this 
blue bellied lizard - they all followed Joey 
around for at least an hour yelling, 
"Let me hold him! Let me hold him! 
Please Joey! Pleeeeaaaze!"

Joey offered to let me hold it, but I politely declined. Ew.

We went on several hikes - Weeping rock, the base of The Narrows and Emerald Pools. Oh that hike was fun....Noah decided to run WAY ahead of the group and consequently got separated from the rest of us for over an hour. I was much more panicked than Lance, but after a silent but heartfelt prayer, we ended up finding him on our way down the mountain. There are few things as frightening as realizing your child is lost. But of course, in Noah's case - he wasn't lost - he knew exactly where he was the whole time. (grrrrrrrr...)

The kids had a Junior Ranger book they were filling out to become an official 'Junior Ranger' and they had to find certain wildlife and plants. Cactus was on the list. On the shuttle up the canyon we saw lots and lots of cactus. Anna was so thrilled to point out every single plant she saw! Cactus! Another cactus Momma! Cactus! Oh, there's some more cactus!  They also had to find a tarantula - I thought, "Let's HOPE they don't!" But they did. On the trail up to the Narrows, there was a tarantula sitting right on the side of the trail!! 

Lance took a quick photo and I strongly encouraged everyone to just keep moving along, please and thank you. 

We camped from Thursday till Sunday and at the end of it all I felt tired and dirty, sore and stinky and did I mention tired? Oh, and dirty? On the drive home I found myself asking why, oh why, do we pack up so much stuff, clean up puke from a car-sick little girl, get so dirty, sleep like hot dogs in a bun, get so stinky, panic because of lost children, and stay up too late around the campfire?

I decided we do it for a few reasons:

#1 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.

#2 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.

#3 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.

Quite simply - we do it for them. Now don't get me wrong - I do enjoy camping. Perhaps not to the level our kids do, but I do love being in the beautiful outdoors. I love being away from the distractions of 'the world'. But honestly, the reality is this: they love it and sometimes.... that's enough.

Kids say the darndest things....

The kids and I went on a hike today....the autumn colors really are amazing...reds, oranges and yellows.... 

. 
Just as we begin our hike, we look up and we see this little guy about 5 feet away from us up in the tree! He is just munching away on his acorn (I think that's what he had in his little paws) I took way too many pictures of him (I mean, really, what AM I going to do with 10 pictures of little Mr. Squirrel???)  Noah asks me about 34 times if he could PLEEEEEAZE just hit it with his sling shot. "Pleeeaze Mom, pleeeaze! I could so hit it; he's right there! Please!" Of course I say NO. Mean mom, right? I don't know, I guess I just figure if we're out enjoying nature, we probably shouldn't allow killing.....

As we continue on our hike, we talk about how adorable Mr. Squirrel is and how fun it is to be out in nature and all the cool things we get to see. 

Then little Anna says, "Momma, if that little quirrel (she doesn't really say her S's at the beginning of words yet) fell out of the tree, I would just bend oba (over) and coop (scoop) him up in my hands and cuddle him in my arms" So. Stinkin. Cute. Then Noah says, "Not me - before he fell out of the tree I would hit him with my sling shot, and watch him fall down, then I'd skin him, cook him and eat him and keep the skin and make a coat! Well, I'd have to kill a bunch of them to make a coat." He is SUCH a twelve year old boy. Joey doesn't say anything - he's too busy picking up three million leaves and shoving them in his backpack. He just loves all of the colors and every single leaf is so beautiful and unique that he must take them ALL home. 

Noah continues to BEG and PLEAD with me to please let him kill a chipmunk or squirrel or something that moves, with his sling shot. I continue to tell him no and try to convince him it's just as much fun to hit a tree as it is a moving target. He isn't buying it.

Anna starts to complain, "Momma, my legs are so tired! Carry me! Carry me!" Well, time to head back down the mountain I suppose.

Anna came home with tired little legs, Joey came home with three million and one leaves and Noah came home still wishing he could have inflicted death upon some innocent creature....I came home feeling refreshed and grateful for the beautiful things that God has put in my life; autumn colors, the air that is just barely turning chilly and the chance to be with my little ones....to run and play with them and to laugh at the things they say....