The 4th of July

For the long weekend we went to Luccock Park Camp, a United Methodist camp in the Paradise Valley near my parents' house. It is up Pine Creek Canyon and it was gorgeous. My Dad and Jason were going to re-wire two of the cabins for them by putting in some more outlets and making things a little more up-to-code. While they did that, Mom and I played with the kids. We took the camper up Saturday morning. THey were very hospitable. There were two family reunions, and a board meeting going on while we were there, but we participated in whatever we wanted, and they fed us. Wonderful weekend.

The fun started by Gramma and Papa bringing these giant butterfly nets for the kids. We had no idea they would be such a hit.

Reder spent much of the weekend running around like this:

Dad and Jason got things squared away right when we got there, then we ate lunch in the mess hall, then headed back down the canyon to LIvingston's 4th of July parade. This parade is famous (at least to little kids) for the obscene amount of candy. The kids were ready! We unfortunately got a lovely spot in the hot sun, so here are Papa and the kids cooling off in the shade before the parade really got going:

It was so darn hot. Kids took their shirts off and everything!:

Mom and I spent most of our time trying to hold the umbrellas over the kids so they didn't die of heat stroke:

The people from Costco were throwing rolls of toilet paper!

Afterwards we went to Mark's In-n-Out for burgers. We left the parade a little early to beat the crowd, and boy were we glad we did. Yummy, sometimes fried food tastes so good.

Our first night in the camper was fine. It was cold, but we have the heater, so I love it. The next morning we heard the bell ring again so it meant time for breakfast! On our way to eat....we should have known that the butterfly nets would be great for this as well:

Reder adores his Gramma, so he was thrilled to have her undivided attention. Gramma had a cold but she was still a sport and played ball with him on the basketball court right across from our little camp.

Dad and Jason hard at work:

Gramma has a secret talent. Catching butterflies. She had one of the nets and took a flying leap and caught this big guy. We all oo'ed and ah'ed, then let him go:

On Sunday we decided Ruby could use a decent nap, not in the camper, as it was so hot. So me and Mom took the kids down to her place. Ruby took a nap great there, but Reder would NOT come in until he caught a butterfly (his catches were moths). He ran around in the hot sun until he was dripping wet and red in the face. He finally caught one, then came in for lunch. Funny kid!:

Coloring in the camper is so much fun!

Here is the mess hall. I think they call it the Wigwam:

Jason outside the Wigwam:

On Monday Gramma had to work, so Dad and Jason wired some more and I took the kids on a hike. There is a trailhead not too far from the camp. I decided we could walk to the trailhead, which turned out to be a bad idea b/c it was farther away than I remembered. By the time we got there, the kids thought they were too tired to hike. Luckily I talked them into going a little ways.

I think these are wild orchids:

They are shouting "Happy 4th of July!":

I really wore them out that day. When we got back to camp they wanted a snack, and to take it easy.

Here is our camp. We had an awning but the wind came up the night before and blew it off. Some of the stitching holding it in place was old and disintegrated, otherwise I think it would have been fine. Darn.:

The views from Luccock aren't too shabby!:

Our camp from a distance:

On the afternoon of the 4th the camp had a BBQ, so we of course joined in. They were just great people there. We enjoyed chatting with all of them. We will definitely go back! On our way home we stopped at Gramma's for dinner and to pick up the dogs. What a wonderful weekend!!