Fall Adventures

This Fall has seemed very action packed! We went on two camping trips in September. The first was a ward camp out at Pena Blanca Lake. They have some neat cliff jumping spots that we took advantage of on Saturday morning. Aaron was brave and was the first to jump off at the highest point, about 30 feet. I brought my snorkel to the lake, but it was completely useless- I could barely see my hand in front of my face because the water was so murky. The Flyths brought a ton of inner tubes, so we all had a splendid time.

We did have a rough time on that camping trip. Annie went down first and was soundly asleep when Elliot came in an hour later. We foolishly granted his wish to take a flashlight in with him, and he was swinging it all around and woke her up. He eventually fell asleep, but she kept crying for hours. Eventually everyone else was asleep, and we felt bad about keeping everyone else up so we tried everything- singing to her and rubbing her back would get her to lie down for like 1 minute, but she would pop back up and start crying again as I stealth rolled back to the air mattress. Trying to get her to sleep with/on us didn't work- she thought that was great fun and wanted to play. This went on for well over an hour before we finally put her in her car seat in the car with the windows cracked. It was parked right outside the tent so we could still hear her but she couldn't see us, so she fell asleep right away. Stinker. We have taken to sticking her pack and play in bathrooms when we travel now because she consistently refuses to fall back asleep if she sees us in the room with her when she wakes up in the night. 

Some of our pals at the ward campout. Aaron found a tattered note on the top of this hill written by a teenage girl about her father who had some weird name that I can't remember. It was a neat little discovery.

We reserved the big group campsite, but they failed to open the gate for us. We sent people back to cell phone service areas to frantically call, but all the offices were closed for the day. Not to be deterred, some inventive members of our ward removed a fence post and pulled back the barbed wire fence to allow us to drive into the campground around the gate instead of through it.

Here are some cute ones of my favorite explorer on our other camping trip up Madera Canyon

Elliot wanted to walk on the ceiling. His Daddy made it happen.

We thought Annie had completely grown out of her egg allergy, but she broke out in crazy hives when she managed to crack a raw egg all over her lap. She seems fine eating it, but her skin is still sensitive to certain things. 

Kenny Heyen had a nerf gun war for his 30th birthday. It was SO FUN. They had an impressive arsenal of nerf guns and transformed the church gym into a battlefield complete with dimmed lighting and music. Best of all, they hired a couple of teenagers to run the nursery so that we could shoot each other in earnest without kids getting in the way!

Annie and I were in charge of picking up the chicken and bringing it to Elliot's preschool for their farm animal unit.
I don't know which one of us was more excited. I feel like I have been waiting my whole life for someone to ask me "can you pick up the chicken," and it finally happened

Elliot has gotten BOLD at the park

I hate this ladder. Annie tries to climb on it every time and still falls through at the top fairly frequently, so I have to stand beneath her to catch her while having mild panic attacks. 

Annie and Theodore in their halloween costumes

I failed to get a picture of Elliot in his clownfish costume. It is the same one he wore last year, and I hope to keep him in it for another year before he realizes that most kids get new costumes every year