Copper Basin Camping Fun!

Day One

Yea! The kids were sooooo excited to head up camping this past weekend. Collin woke up Friday morning and was walking towards me. All the sudden he stops and gives me a huge smile. I thought, it's so nice to get a such a happy morning greeting and braced myself for a hug. Instead of coming over to me he said, "Today we're going camping!!" Oh, he wasn't excited to see me at all. He was ready to go. That's okay I was excited to go too. It was so much work to even get ready to go though. All the packing, cleaning, organizing and setting up camp. It hardly seems worth all the trouble. Maybe if we didn't need so much stuff. Oh well, as you can see from the pictures below we had fun anyways. Hopefully these trips will give the kids some good memories. Carlee has only been at camp a few hours and is already dirty. She would sit and play in the dirt for hours if I let her at home. Now is her chance!
She also loves rocks.

Me, Kaitlyn, Carlee and Collin
Friday night the four of us dressed up in our "war paint" and pretended to be Indians raiding the camp. Kaitlyn always makes camping fun and I'm so glad that she came!

Carlee snuggling and holding hands with grandma Brewer. What a special girl she is. She ended up having her first sleepover with Kaitlyn. According to miss Katie-Kate Carlee hogged the pillow all night.

Day Two

Saturday morning we ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Tina made a special batter of pancakes just for Carlee with no eggs. Turns out she's really allergic to eggs. Who knew? The pancakes actually stayed together and tasted good! Then we got ready to go up to Green Lake. We can't have a camping trip without a fishing trip too. It's so much fun!

Collin practiced his casting and did such an excellent job for his first time. He looked like he'd been doing it for years!

10 of us piled up on motorbikes while Kevin followed partway up in his truck. Only Tina and grandma Brewer stayed at camp. A few years ago I wouldn't be caught dead on a motorbike. I was so scared to ride on one because Eric was such a crazy driver. He finally convinced me to go and I've been loving rides ever since. Eventually I want to learn to drive one but Eric's is too tall for me to even try.

Eric, me, Carlee and Kevin headed up the newest trail while everyone else headed up the river trail. It's mostly shale rock so you have to be careful. On the way up I spotted a butterfly lazing out in the grass. Isn't he cute?

Carlee had to explore the little cave on the way with her dad. This is her first time going up to the lake. She was excited to get out with the big "kids".

We made it!

Carlee enjoying the view...

...and the plants!

Kaitlyn, Collin, Rowdy dog, Levi, Cher and Justin

Collin getting ready to catch a big one!

My hubby always catches the most fish wherever we go. I don't know what it is.

Levi and Collin

Carlee Ann loved the worms! She kept wanting me to open the lid so she could look at them.


This is her face after she touched one. Can you say "Ewww!" She wasn't afraid of them though. Then again I don't know anything that she is scared of!

Relaxing with grandpa Jensen.

Adorable Collin!

One of the boys left their pole on the ground so Carlee picked it up and started fishing!!

Snuggles with mom under the trees. She was getting really tired until she saw Collin Wayne take off his clothes and dip his feet in the water. Then she was ready to take off her clothes and jump in!

Adorable Kaitlyn.

Matt was the only one to go completely under the water. Brrrrrrr!

Collin only got his feet wet. It was too cold for him.

Cher, Matt, and Kaitlyn (By the way Kaitlyn pushed Cher into the lake! She apologized after she felt how cold it was!)

Carlee was in heaven when Cher took her into the water. She was the only one that didn't complain about how cold the water was. As long as it's wet Carlee is happy. I wish I could have gone in too. Next year I'll have to bring extra clothes. That didn't stop the others from going in though. Levi, Cher, Kaitlyn, Collin and Matt were all in their underwear. Carlee just shed everything, the little nudist. If I didn't get rashes from the sun I think I would have done it too!

Redneck fishing.

Carlee spent over and hour sitting naked on a rock playing with the fish that everyone caught.

I thought she would be scared to touch them but she was having the time of her life playing with them!

Matt the fish gutter.

Kaitlyn made sure she was the last person to fish.

Pretending to fish with a stick.

Rowdy snuck in a nap.

Heading back down the mountain. All of us took the river trail down. The views were alot better than the rocky side. I think I'll go that way both ways next time.

This is a shot to remember. Larry actually relaxing!!

***

Saturday night most of us sat down by the fire enjoying each others company and watching Matt light a couple farts with a lighter. Yes, you read that right. It's too bad Collin was already asleep. He is always full of gas. Of course then he might of wanted to try it too and would've singed his p.j.'s. It's probably better that he was asleep. Kevin just started roasting the marshmallows when we started to hear rustling in the woods. No one said anything so I thought maybe I was being paranoid. Then I heard it again and so did Eric. He drove his bike around the back of the camp and we shined lights trying to scare whatever it was away. It sounded big from the rustling it was making. It could have been a bear smelling our food or a wolf. Eric said a deer wouldn't get that close to us. Needless to say Katie-Kate and I headed for the camper! Kaitlyn, Carlee and I all slept together that night while the boys stood guard for awhile. I wasn't worried because we were packing alot of heat. If something messed with our camp it wouldn't be alive for long!
***

I'm glad the kids had so much fun this year. I endure no shower mostly because they have so much fun and I enjoy seeing them happy. Sunday we packed up and got ready to go. Eric and Matt wanted to ride their motorbikes home with Kevin following them in his truck. That left me to drive one of the campers out of the mountain. I've hardly driven the truck and now I had to drive it with the camper behind me? Well, there's a first time for everything. It wasn't too bad driving it. I just had to take the corners a little wider and go slower than my lead foot would usually go. We survived and all made it home in one piece!

Carlee and Collin cleaned up with shiny faces after a long shower. Well, except for the spot where Collin's bandaid was. We scrubbed but it still didn't come off. There's nothing better than a shower after a weekend in the woods!