Teepee

At this campground there are two teepees, right next to each other in the day use area. This location is good because of 1) the gorgeous empty lawn 2) it's right on the river and 3) you're away from the other campers so the kids can be a bit louder. It's not so good in that 1) the bathrooms are far away 2) the bathrooms are far away and 3) the bathrooms are far away. Let's just say that after 4 days of vacation in campground, my kids, who really prefer to use our own bathroom (as do I), are a little, umm... uncomfortable. Each of them only wants me to go the bathrooms with them and it's a pretty long walk. Frequently we get there and they won't go or try unsuccessfully. They also won't go together. This has resulted in me working every single hot dog and smore calorie off by hiking back and forth 200 times to the bathrooms.

Through some crazy stroke of fate, the family renting the other teepee is our friend Jennifer. She's from the early mom's group I went to when Miss E was a baby and her daughter is 2 days older than Miss E. Neither of us planned this, we just made our own reservations and later realized it was for the same two nights. It has been a lot of fun to have friends to camp with and Miss E especially has loved having her friend around. The girls have spent most of the time at the campsite taking turns riding Miss E's bike and drawing. Mr. T has been a bit left out but true to form, he has created a "machine" out of the fence and the fire wood and a cardboard box and has busied himself playing on it. Jennifer also has a perfectly nice and perfectly kind 16 year old son who won't really talk to me. But he's great with the kids and seems to have no problem talking to Peter about what type of stuff burns (one of Peter's favorite subjects). I think 16 can be an awkward age for boys. Mr. T loves him.

We spent today hiking in the Fossil National Monument. The trail we went on was only a mile long but it was uphill and super hot and in the desert so it was a tough mile. Mr. T was feeling very, let's say... uncomfortable due to reasons listed above and didn't make it the whole way. Miss E however, made it to the end of the trial with me! I was so proud of her and told her that hiking a mile in the desert is like hiking three miles in the forest - it's just harder.

So far, this vacation has been so wonderful. The kids are old enough to do stuff, they are flexible and there has been nary an argument between Peter and I. The one hiccup was Miss E having a major meltdown tonight which felt huge and dramatic and intense but really, once we stepped back and realized that she has been up really late for 4 nights now with no mid-day rest/quiet time or alone time that she craves, was just a hiccup.