Camping!

 Grandpa and Grandma Great, that live far, far away, are also campground hosting this summer. So we decided to take the opportunity to go camping and visit them at the same time!

They are camp hosting at Panguitch Lake in southern Utah. We arrived Friday at lunch time. That first afternoon we headed over to Mammoth Caves.

I had been here once before, for an activity during college, but had forgotten about it until we got there.

We scrambled down into a hole and then explored for a while.  The kids thought it was neat to be in complete darkness and to be "explorers."

And Eliza took a nap in the car with Grandpa Great the whole time. It was wonderful!

We spent a bunch of time hanging out by the fire.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows Friday night. 

Saturday morning, I stayed back at camp while Eliza napped and Spencer and the kids went exploring from our campsite.

They found a river and had lots of fun tossing in rocks and taking pictures.

They even found a waterfall!

Saturday afternoon we had a crazy rainstorm. We waited it out by reading, drawing, playing with cards, and watching a movie.

After the rain died down, we headed down to check out the lake and went for a little hike. 

The kids thought it was awesome fun to toss in rocks and make "fireworks."

Eliza got her first taste of the backpack carrier and was content as long as Spencer kept moving.

My handsome boy! :) 

This was Eliza's main form of entertainment at camp. She loved to gather up the rocks and collect them in the camp chair.

Then she'd move them from chair to cup holder and back. It was adorable.

That night after the kids went to bed, Spencer and I took out the camera and tripod and played around with star pictures. This is the best one that he took after I headed to bed. The star in the middle is the north star. I think it's so cool how the other stars all circled around it - showing the rotation of the Earth.

Sunday morning I had them take me to see the waterfall. Eliza got in a nap while we walked.

It was really pretty and I'm glad we went.

My beautiful girl!

And my handsome boy!

We've discovered the key to travelling with kids is to not be in a hurry and to make stops fun.  We found a park in Nephi on the way there and another one in Fillmore on the way home. They were lifesavers!