First Family Camping Trip (post-Joni)

So my Mom and I decided to orchestrate a family camping weekend so we could shake the dust off of our little old tent trailer. We made reservations at Lake Hemet (I know, that doesn't sound like an appealing camping destination, but I was trusting my parent's judgement). The week leading up to the trip was so dang stressful. Chris was behind with work so he was working late every night leaving the trailer prep all to me. Fun. So, Monday comes around and I cannot locate the trailer keys. It's been over two years since we've used the poor thing, so I shouldn't have been surprised that the keys ran away from us and hid. I was frantically searching everywhere for them. There's nothing worse than looking for a set of keys. I can't even find my normal set of keys with my mailbox key on them which is where all of our money from the business goes to.. No mailbox key, no money.. NO BUENO. Anywho, I asked both the boys probably ten times each if they had seen my keys. Nope. After an hour of desperately searching for them, I ask Cruz one more time if he's seen them and he tells me, "They were wet so I threw them on the grass." Makes perfect sense, right? Thank God we found them in the grass. That doesn't help me with the trailer key situation though. Of course they weren't on that key ring. So I continue searching and finally find them on a random set of keys in the glove box of my car. I hate searching for keys. Or anything for that matter.

So I drive to the back of the property to try and hitch up the trailer to our 4Runner and bring it to the house myself. Never done it before, but it can't be that hard, right? I can do anything with a napping baby, after all. (I moved our trampoline over an acre by myself just last week... This can't be that hard.) So, with a minimal amount of struggle, I get the trailer hitched and am slowly chugging along driving it up our dirt road to the front gate of our property. I start backing it through the gate and realize backing up is not so easy with a trailer connected. After a dozen failed attempts the heavens open up and I see my mother in law and brother in law pulling up to our house after their work day. Sam, my brother in law, hops in the driver seat to help me out and doesn't seem to have much better luck than me, but he's getting it in slowly but surely. Until we realize that the wind up handle that moves the little wheel in the front of the trailer was down because I didn't put it up like you're supposed to. So Sam's backing up and  that stupid little winder winds up in the back bumper of my car. Popped a big hole right in it. I won't be hitching up a trailer by myself ever again.

So we finally get the trailer in place for me to pop it open and start all the prep work. Last year I purchased a replacement crank handle to pop open the trailer because the original one had fallen off on the freeway during our last camping trip. I can't find the replacement crank I ordered anywhere. Without that, there's no way to open the darn trailer. So here I am again in frantic search mode tearing everything apart in the house. I seriously hate that feeling. It took me ALL DAY, but I finally found it buried under a pile of crap in Chris' fishing closet.

So I get the replacement crank hooked up and open up the trailer and get to work cleaning and stocking up the trailer which is quite the task with two "helpful" boys and a 6 month old baby. But I get it done.

Meanwhile, news spreads about a fire going on in Idyllwild which is very close to where we're supposed to be camping. We watched the progress of containment of the fire as the days went on, but it didn't seem like it was going to be out by the weekend. My Mom and I started looking into getting spots at every single campground we could think of in Southern California. We couldn't stand to think of how disappointed the boys would have been if we had to cancel the trip. Every place was booked, like they should be with only a days notice. I decided to look into this little campground up in Julian that Chris and I stayed at before when Jed was a baby. I didn't hear back from the lady until the morning we were supposed to leave. That was quite a stressful morning preparing for a get away that we didn't even know where we going!

But we got the reservations and Chris got home from work around 1:00 and we took off from there.

The weather was a bit cooler than it was down here which was nice. We got the trailer set up, the beds made, and our little home set up. We ate dinner shortly after arriving and the boys got to ride their bikes with some other kids in the campground. I think that was their favorite part. Cruz was unusually whiny and just hysterical when we were making s'mores that night, so I had to put him to bed without having a s'more. The next morning Cruz woke up burning up with fever and Jed's fever came a few hours after waking up. They were just miserable. Throwing up everything they ate. Our saving grace was baby aspiring every few hours. I never give them fever reducers normally because I think it's best to let the fever do its job, but they were just so miserable and once their fever subsided a bit were able to enjoy themselves a little and ride their bikes and fish with Chris. So, they did get to have some fun. We did a lot of resting and napping in our little trailer and really enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Joni loved camping and did really well. 

Chris caught a bullfrog using a baby frog bait. 

 Jed was a happy camper once the baby aspirin kicked in.

 Cruz absolutely LOVED getting to use his new bike. He feels so cool. 

 Nana & Papa's set-up

 Telling Papa one of his many stories

 The boys in the morning before the vomiting begins. 

 We did many family scooter rides. So much fun. 

 Daddy and his girl. 

 When the fever came back all he wanted was to be held. 

 Papa having a much needed Corona & a snooze. 

 He loves his babies. That's for sure. 

 Cruzie loves his Nana. I love the way he says "Nana". Hilarious. 

 Telling us how old he is. 

I didn't bother to look in a mirror the entire weekend. Look away. 

 The boys at the fishing hole. They caught a catfish. 

 And Jed retrieved a soccer ball for a group of girls that got it stuck out of arm's reach in the pond. Their Dad had given up and left them to get it themselves, so Jed went in to save the day. And got stuck in the "quicksand-like" mud while doing so. Such a hero, that boy. 

 Daddy cleaning up the aftermath. 

 Little game of cornhole. 

 And some quiet time by the pond. 

Joni and Nana. 

Campfire with my girl. 

My babe, the fire whisperer. 

And a sweet Cruz. Safety first, folks. 

Nanas are the best when you're sick. Next to Moms, of course. 

 Poor Jed enjoying the fire from a distance. 

It was alot of work and stress, but it was worth it for the sweet memories we made. We rescheduled our Lake Hemet trip for a couple weekends from now, so we'll see how that trip turns out. I'm going to start praying now!

Cruz turns THREE!

It's so hard to believe it's been three years since this boy came into our lives. We celebrated on our birthday by going out to see the new Despicable Me 2.. Like we did the night he was born when the first one came out. Cruz was born about an hour after we saw the movie. Afterwards we got some yummy treats from this chocolate factory near the theatre. We had a party for Cruz the next day with some close friends and family. It was a great time celebrating our boy. We absolutely loved seeing him enjoy all the special attention and feel so happy and COOL with his new bike. 

 For his birthday, Cruz requested beef tacos, chocolate cake, and a cow that he could milk and put the milk into buckets. The tacos and cake were no buggy... The cow, however, was a bit tricky. So we put a cow on the cake!! Uncle Dan supplied gallons of chocolate milk to go with the cake. That was a huge hit. 

 Some of our closest friends came to the party. The Franklins. So great spending time with them. 

 Joni took a swim with Auntie Gina and loved it. 

 Uncle Josh and his girlfriend, Nicole, came too. 

 Cruz enjoying his delicious chocolate cow cake. 

 Thank you Auntie Brandi for the awesome squirt gun. 

 We got Cruz his very own bike and he was so excited. He kept saying, "This is my bike and not Jed's bike." Jed wasn't amused. He's been riding it non stop. 

 We set up a s'mores station and everyone roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Such a good idea! 

 Us with our littlest sweetie by the fire. 

Breastfeeding next to a roaring fire. Nothing beats it. :)

Cruz Alexander, we are so blessed to be your parents and pray that we will be the parents God intends us to be for you. Watching you grow is a true privilege. We love you more than you'll ever know.