Camp Na-Bor-Lee

My sister recently had several mishaps while traveling. As she recounted her car troubles, airbnb issues, and more, my dad's response was: "that's why we don't do fun things." 

With that lead, I'm sure you're expecting to hear something went astronomically wrong on our camping trip. I'll put your mind at ease. No, we didn't crash. Our tires remained in tact, and we have yet to get the dreaded COVID. (Knock on wood)

Our colossal, bad thing was: a long drive with 2 young children. This might sound silly, but it was challenging. How long of a drive was it? It took 11 hours to get there. Camp Na-bor-lee added extra distance increasing our drive time home to 12 hours and 45 minutes. I will note that Andrew doesn't speed (thank heavens). Thinking about the drive makes me cringe. Isabelle did her fair-share of screaming. 

We left Utah on Friday, August 7 and returned on Wednesday, August 12. We tried to align our drive to Washington with nap/bed time to alleviate some entertaining on our part. Our rough drive to WA definitely inspired our spur of the moment decision to leave Washington after dinner Tuesday and drive through the night (instead of waiting until Wednesday morning). Leaving was a good call, even though it was risky and we had to miss seeing Tyler get set-apart as a missionary. (Many of the awesome pics of the trip are because of him!)  I'm grateful we didn't hit a deer in the darkness. The drive home was much more bearable. The kids only woke up for the final 2 hours. I even got a turn driving (seeing that Andrew hadn't slept in hours) and drove the familiar freeway from Idaho Falls back to Utah.

When choosing how to vacation and use Andrew's precious, now limited vacation days, CAMPING would never make it on my list. Add small kids and it's my dream vacation (just kidding). As predicted, getting Isabelle to sleep was no easy feat. She wailed anytime we put her in the pack and play. We gave her part of a sleeping aid gummy the first night which worked like a charm. The downside was that it caused her to throw-up the next morning 4x. Once we all got to sleep, we slept well. Our kids even slept in until after 7am both mornings! My parents let us use their super cushy camping pads and we finally broke in our brand new tent! It got cool in the evenings which was a nice change and I actually wanted and needed to use covers (aka my sleeping bag) for the first time in months. Side note: James called it a "sleep bag" which was so cute.

We were in charge of dessert one night and stopped and bought cookies. Lots of strangers were impressed Izzy had a mask on. I'm surprised the mask lasted.

Isabelle loved all the extra attention. Aunt Tavia played with her lots.

Candid moment

Staying with Logan and Julia before we went camping was an excellent choice. Our kids, especially Isabelle, LOVED their dog, Maggie. Izzy wouldn't leave poor Maggie alone and chased her around at all moments. Seeing Isabelle play with Maggie was priceless and has made me consider becoming a dog owner someday. Julia knows me well and ordered pizza one night, so I felt right at home.

Saydee and Izzy are about 7 months apart!

Our nephew, Dallin was baptized on Saturday and we were grateful to be there. Granny gave a talk and used a stuffed animal dog as an object lesson. Isabelle was so excited and couldn't contain herself. She said "doggy" loudly, so many times throughout the message. I ended up having to take her to the back/out. It was adorable.

James had the time of his life being around so many playmates. He definitely wore himself out and played hard. I was so proud of James for being brave enough to go tubing. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that. He even went tubing a second time, so I think it's safe to say he was a fan.

James and Eliza walked around the campsite holding hands. Precious.

James loved playing with Rhett

In other news, Andrew achieved his goal for the year... He went water skiing! My dad is an especially goal-oriented person and we were once talking about our aspirations for the year. The only thing on Andrew's mind that year was water-skiing. I still like to tease him about it.

Approved by Andrew. He likes that it shows how well he cut around the buoy on the slalom course.

I did not grow up doing water sports and haven't had much success getting up when attempting water sports in the past. I was relieved to hear that a "beginners only" boat full of people went out to learn how to wake surf. I happily joined. All I wanted to do was get up and I did this time! I struggled to stay up and am definitely not at the point of being able to let go of the rope, but I'm one step closer.

Yes, Andrew sent this pic to my family. Yes, I knew he was going to and was totally ok with it. My face says it all. He says this will be his new phone screensaver. As you can see, water sports are very relaxing for me.

Despite the inconveniences that come with traveling too many hours in the car and camping in general, we made some wonderful memories. James' prayers have been extra sweet since our return and he randomly will pray for members of our extended family. That being said, I can see why my dad said he doesn't do fun things. Fun things are a hassle and require lots of work, but they are usually worth it.

Swimming Lessons

Like every place, UT has its pros and cons. Lately, I've been reminded of a couple of them. One thing I LOVE about living here is how kid-friendly it is. Swimming lessons are walking distance from our house and cost a whopping $35! Something that is a con for me is the culture. The mindset that everyone here has the same views just because many people are members of the church bothers me. 

I was hesitant to sign James up for swimming lessons with Covid-19 going on. After lots of thought, Andrew and I decided to move forward with it, especially since it's outdoors. I'm so glad we did! We haven't had much to do these days and we avoid most public places. James did lessons with 2 of his friends, Harrison Hendricks and Philip Alling. Sometimes I wonder if that was a good idea. James can get hyper and this was the case in swimming as well. The teachers had to give James lots of reminders, but he wasn't out of control. As his teacher put it: "He has a lot of great energy." I was pleased by how comfortable James was in the water. The first day, he was scared, but after that he had no problems.

Swim lessons can be kind of exhausting and are definitely a commitment. They're every weekday, 30 minutes a day, for 9 days. It was quite hot already when lessons started at 10:55am. Add a mask, and I was a hot mess. James liked swimming and I decided to sign him up for another session because what else is there to do? The second time, I signed James up without friends. I wanted to see what his behavior was like. I don't think it made much of a difference. I did overhear the teacher telling another kid, "hold James' hand, so he doesn't run away." Yes, that's my child. Energetic and full of life. For round 2, I  signed him up for the earliest time to avoid the heat. I liked 9:45am much better! 

James ended up having the same teacher, Rachel, both sessions. He wasn't as into the other teachers. (There were 2 teachers per class.) The last day of each session is dubbed, "slide day" and includes a dum-dum lollipop and certificate of achievement. After session 1, James was brave and went down the slide without fear. More recently on slide day, he continued to say he didn't want to go when one of his teachers asked. I couldn't figure it out. As soon as Rachel offered to take James down the slide, he went, no problem. I was impressed by all the teachers at the PG Pool. I actually want to leave a review or call because we had a fantastic experience. 

The infamous, Rachel

Slide day

Some highlights:

• We enjoyed walking to swimming lessons several of the days. James would tell me which route he wanted to take each day. 
• Running into Diane Wangeman. She was the primary pianist in our old ward while I was the chorister. I adore her! She's in her mid sixties and brought her grandkids to the pool for lessons. Catching up with her made me happy.
• A few times, I was able to distract/bribe Isabelle with treats. In turn, I was able to read my book in peace while she was stuffing her face with fruit snacks. In case you're wondering, she was buckled securely in her stroller.

Some lowlights:

• James had to go potty twice during swimming lessons. I should be proud of him for letting the teacher know that he needed to us the bathroom, and I am. But man, what a hassle to bring Isabelle into a disgusting public bathroom, all while wrangling James' soaking wet swim trunks off.

We are going camping near a lake soon and I think James' water experience will be helpful. I'm already looking forward to more swimming lessons next summer. Oh, and sorry Isabelle, I guess what they say about 2nd children is true... I didn't do the mom and baby class with you. Maybe next year!