Camping too far away (aka family reunion)

Last week we went to Parks, AZ (just west of Flagstaff) to go to a family reunion. It's my maternal grandma's siblings/spouses (only 3 are still alive - a brother and his wife and another brother's wife) and all their kids, and their kids, etc. It's kind of a long drive, especially with 2 little boys and a nursing baby, but it was well worth it. The boys had a BLAST - Crue didn't want to leave! We went to my the ranch my uncle's family owns (my mom's sister's husband). I remember going there when I was younger so I was really excited to go back, to take my boys there, and to see extended family. It took about 7 - 8 hours to get there (normally about 6 without having to stop). We were camping so we didn't have to pay for a hotel in addition to the fuel (a 98 suburban unfortunately doesn't get 25-30 mpg). Plus, we have a huge, awesome tent, and the boys (and me) love camping. My sister, Kelci, and her boyfriend, Tony, rode with us and my cousin's husband rode home with us. That's right, 7 people (8 on the way home) and all our gear, fit inside the suburban. There was nothing on the top. Jared's amazing. He had to play tetris to get everything in there but he did it!

On the way there, everyone was asleep at one point. So nice and quiet! I was really getting tired of all the whining from the very back seat. Just kidding Kelci! :)

When we first got there the boys went for a ride on my uncle's off-roading golf cart with Kelci and Tony, and my cousin Heidi (driving).

They also really liked the tire swing, especially when we first got there (it was close to where we set our tent up at). Kelci and Tony were the lucky ones that got to push them a lot on the swing.

There's a big cinder pit by the house where most of the kids played a lot of the time. My cousins recently built a zip line across the cinder pit that the kids all loved. Every once in a while when we would look for Crue, we would look up at the zip line first and there was a good chance we'd find him there. It was really nice not having to watch him constantly like we usually do when we're camping. Everyone was family so you could trust them and they would help watch everyone else's kids, and Crue was good to stay in the general vicinity of everyone and not wander off. We had to keep a little closer eye on Cooper because he doesn't understand about not wandering off, but he still did really good too.

Uncle Robert (his family's ranch), Jared, Uncle Jerry, and Terry, my mom's cousin, all hanging out and talking after moving some picnic tables. (House to the right, cinder pit to the left, and bunkhouse behind the truck.)

Crue playing in the cinder pit, above, Cooper playing in the cinder pit and climbing a little, below.

The first day we were there Cooper fell and his face hit a rock. Poor little bud. He was quite a trooper though. He only cried a little bit and then was fine the rest of the time.

Jared taking Crue (at the bottom, climbing by himself) and Cooper (hanging on to dad) to the top of the cinder pit for the zip line and carrying the kid chair for it.

Here's Crue on the zip line, followed by a video of him on it. (videos currently won't work - I'll try again later)

Here's Cooper on the zip line followed by a video of him on it. Jared was too scared to let Cooper go by himself the first time so that's why he's running with the rope. After we saw how slow it went for the kids, he let him go by himself the rest of the time. The last day someone figured out how to attach some string to the seat and to a bike so they didn't have to have someone run and pull the seat back every time, they could just use the bike pedals. (They had a regular swing seat for the older kids and adults.)

Here's a picture of the ranch from where you got on the zip line at. We had our tent down the hill behind the house (the house is on the left with the awnings out front).

My uncle, the same one with the golf cart, also brought 3 of his horses and one of his ranch neighbor's horses for us to ride (his in-law's ranch is in Williams, a little farther west of Parks). Jared had put Crue and Cooper on one and walked them around a little before I got there (with the camera). The boys loved the horses and they were able to go for another ride or two.

Crue went for a ride with Aubrey, my cousin's daughter (it's her grandpa's horses). He then took off to go play somewhere, probably in the cinder pit, so he didn't get to ride with us later.

Cooper went with a cousin but I can't remember her name. I had talked to her when we went riding later and had asked her name, but now I can't remember. I think she is Cathy's daughter, who is my mom's cousin. She does the jumping and other things on horses (can't remember what it's called) so riding horses in a circle in a meadow is a piece of cake for her. She was really cute.

You can't forget mom and dad's ride! Cooper was more than happy to go on the horse again, this time with dad. (That's Carol, my mom's cousin, leaning against the trailer.)

Mom and Alyson (yep, Aly went on her first horse ride!) went on another horse. The cute girl that took Cooper before let me step on her hand with one foot so I could reach the stirrup. Normally, I can mount a horse all by myself. I'm a big girl. :) But it's a little difficult with something attached to the front of you that you can't squish as you climb up.

Dad and Cooper coming back to the trailer (thanks to Marian, my mom's cousin, for taking pictures of us). Check out those cute boys of mine!

Mom and Aly coming back. She started getting grumpy partway through the ride.

This is my cousin's husband and little girl. He doesn't like riding horses much and she wanted to go by herself (I think she's 4 or 5) so he walked with her. She started freaking out at the beginning but then she was loving it. She was so cute and so excited. While we were out in the meadow she was saying she was riding the horse all by herself and you could hear the excitement in her voice. The cute girl (I'll just keep calling her that since I can't remember her name) was on the 4th horse.

On Friday after lunch we went to a lava tube cave. We left Alyson with my cousin Jeff (thanks Jeff!) and took the boys. It was hard work with those two but I think they had a fun time. Other than when I fell (didn't hurt me even a little bit) and pulled Crue down with me (he hit just below his knee on a rock that was sticking out and had a bump and bruise there later), and when I hit my head hard during a low ceiling part (it still hurts), we made it in and out just fine. We decided not to go clear to the end because it was hard trying to help two little boys and we needed to get back to feed Aly. I'm glad we went though. The boys had fun.

This is where you climb down in. This was probably the hardest part with the boys. Going out, Jared was able to hold Cooper the entire time and climb out. Kelci helped Crue on the way out (he didn't want mom anymore) and he was able to climb out mostly by himself with a little help.

Family picture in the cave. It was pretty cool (both the temperature and what you could see). My cousin's husband, Brad (Aubrey's dad - remember her from the horses?), helped with Crue at the beginning too.

Alyson sleeping in her carseat. She did great. Everyone loved her (can you blame them?). This is actually her second camping trip. She started sleeping through the night earlier that week after we moved her out of our room. I was worried she might wake up during the night while we were camping with being right next to me, we had her in her carseat on our side of the tent) but she slept through the night. She did better than her brothers who both woke up once during the first night!

All the kids got EXTREMELY dirty there. It must be a fine dirt because Jared found it on his legs where he had been wearing shorts. It's a red dirt that doesn't come out of light colored clothes very well. I tried taking a picture of Crue's face before bed the last night to show the dirt but I don't know how well you can see it. It was seriously COVERED with a layer of dirt!

The boys having fun playing together with Cooper's dinosaurs that he won at the silent auction, while I packed up everything in the tent.

They are such cute brothers, when they aren't fighting. Crue loves to help Cooper (it's the cutest thing when I see him holding Cooper's hand to go for a walk or when he helps him do something). He's a great big brother and they have lots of fun together.

My boys eating breakfast the last morning before we left. There was fresh orange juice that was so good. I think my favorite part of breakfast was the first morning. My aunt had made and sent a cinnamon apple syrup with my cousins and it was really, really good.

Jared put the boys in the trailer for the golf cart while we folded up the tent. It's a great way to keep them out of trouble and in our sight!

The golf cart was next to where the suburban was parked while we loaded up. The boys were more than happy to play on it for a little bit. So cute! I love these boys!

Here's a view of the golf cart. Pretty sweet ride!

The reunion was really fun. It was good to see a lot of relatives that I don't get to see much, and extended ones that I haven't seen in a really long time. One of my mom's cousins (Terry - in a picture near the beginning) has a son named Crew, which is where we got Crue's name from. He was actually on his mission in Chili so he wasn't there this time. The last family reunion that I was at was in 2003, before I even knew about Jared. It was really good to be at the ranch again where I have so many memories. It was fun to watch my boys and see all the fun they had there. Thank you so much to everyone for all the work they did for it. The drives there and back were not fun, but it was worth it to be at the ranch again and to be with all the family. Thanks especially to Kelci and Tony who helped a LOT with the boys, both on the drives and at the ranch.

**Camping too far away is what Crue called it. That's where the title of this post came from.