Mother's Day Weekend Camping Trip

Despite the rough start- the flat tire, spending the first night in a hotel, the extra several hours of driving to get another spare, and little man throwing up in the car- we ended up having fun on our camping trip to the Pahsimeroi Valley. We were just about 30 minutes away from our camp spot Friday night, when the flat tire graced us. The boys didn't mind the extra time watching dad work and playing in the sagebrush.
Around 4pm on Saturday, we finally made it to our camping spot. Here's our new 9-man tent. Actually, it fits the four of us quite nicely- room for Little Man's pack-and-play, our queen-size air mattress, and the single mattress for Bugga.

The boys just loved being outside. Little Man pulled this stake out of the ground and was happily tromping around camp with it. In the meantime, Bugga helped Daddy collect wood for the campfire...

Isn't that the cutest pic of the three of them hauling the wood? The gathering trip before this one, Noah actually carried some wood himself- I guess he was getting tired at this point and wanted a ride on dad's shoulders. I don't blame him- I would have, too!

It got down in the 40s on Saturday night, but we slept pretty well. Plenty of blankets for everyone. The boys woke up around 7:30 and Jas graciously took them hiking and let me sleep in...

Here's Noah, the hiker. He loves to go on trails and see all the sights. At one point, they heard a noise and he said, "You hear dit? Wha's dat?" Jas told him it was a squirrel. Noah replied, "A squirl? Let's get outta here!"

I woke up around 9:30 hearing these words outside the tent, "Boys, don't squish him. Be gentle. You squeezed him too hard- now he's pooping. Don't put him in your food!" I thought, "what in the world?" I got up and the boys had found a fuzzy little catepillar crawling around. Of course, they couldn't keep their hands off. On the far left, they're just watching him crawl around. The next pic, Noah is trying to feed the catepillar a berry- saying, "Eat, eat!" Jonah's poking him with a stick. The poor thing actually lived through it all and we finally released him back into the "wild."

Above, part of the hike with dad... did I mention that they love it?
Part of the purpose of our trip was for Jas to get some hydrology work done at four stations there in the Valley. We hung out and played around while he worked. The boys were never bored- far too many rocks and too much dirt for boredom!

Noah told us that his alligator likes to eat rocks. Here he is shoving the appropriate-sized rocks down the gator's mouth into his belly. I wish I had a picture of the hand-full of rocks that I dug out of that poor animal! We tried to get a good Mother's Day picture of me and the boys. Bugga wouldn't hear of it, though. So, Jonah and I got a quick pic- isn't the backdrop gorgeous?

Luckily, daddy's boy would take a picture with him. Here are my boys- all three of them. Thanks for being troopers through a rocky trip! I loved just being with y'all.

Swimming for the fishes!

Thanks to Grandma, our boys are in swimming lessons! It was part of her Christmas gift to them, and also a Valentines gift. We are halfway through our second session and the boys love it! Since they are both so young (and only 15 months apart), they are in the same class- a mommy and me class. Luckily, Ms. Sue (their instructor) is able to help out with N while I hold J. Otherwise, it would just be chaos!

I love seeing those smiles while they are learning to feel comfortable in the water. Sue does a great job making the learning part a lot of fun!

Bumper boats are one of their favorite activities. What boys don't like to slam into each other?
One of the things I like most about these lessons is that the boys are getting accustomed to wearing life jackets during part of the class. This will be especially useful when we spend time at the lake this summer!

Here they are in the "boat"- I keep waiting for one of the kids to puke when we spin it around. That will be the day that I quickly exit the pool and building- hopefully Jas will be there to handle the kids if that happens!
After every lesson, the boys get a gummy fish from Ms. Sue. This is by far their favorite part of the hour! So, yes, I've been bribing N to get him to attempt to blow "nose bubbles." We're making progress, though!

Thank you, Grandma Janice! What a great gift- not just for the fun we have, but also the skills the boys are learning. It's so important that they learn to be safe in the water.