The Mower Family: Camping

A few weeks ago, Matt and I decided to go on a camping trip, and last Friday we loaded up the car and went!

There are a few reasons this particular camping trip was so special:
1) Usually we go camping with friends or multiple families, this was our first camping trip with just our family since before Thomas was born.
2) We haven't gone camping for the last year or two, so it's the first camping trip that Riley really remembers and could get excited about. (He was so bewildered when I told him we were going to sleep in the forest!)
3) It was Makayla's first camping trip EVER besides the one in our backyard!

I love that our family is grown up enough now that we are able to do things like this just the 6 of us! It was SO much fun! We went up AF canyon and found a really good spot, we set up camp and had hotdogs and S'mores, then went to bed since it was slightly late. It was much colder at night than we thought it would be. The boys slept great, but Makayla was NOT a happy camper! :) We had to put her in bed with us to make sure she was warm enough. My allergies went nuts to the point where I was unable to move any air at all through my nose. LOL And the coyotes were howling all night. We woke up pretty tired still, so we opted to just go home later that day.

It was fun to see the boys follow Matt around. While I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Matt and the boys went off in the woods with the axe to find more firewood. With Matt leading the line of dirty boys wearing baseball caps, the boys followed him chanting "Men, Men, Men, Men." It made me laugh so hard! The camping spot we chose had a great big dried up river bed that the kids played all day in while Matt resting in his hammock and while I relaxed with Makayla. Right before lunch time we decided to throw the kids in the car and head over to Cascade Springs for a fun little hike and to collect fall leaves.
It was gorgeous!!

... But when we got back we were even more exhausted!

So we decided to break camp and head on home. It was so nice to get everyone bathed, in pajamas, pizza ordered and cozy in our own home again.

And guess what.. I forgot the camera. :)
Luckily we took Matt's phone and got a few pictures...