Usually my sister just takes the kids for a few days and they rough it. This year, however, things were a little different. My sister was crazy busy with work and wasn't sure how she was going to make Cousin's Camp work this year.
After what I'm sure was tons of thinking, she decided she'd have all of us come 'camp out' in her backyard.
She recently moved to Vernal and from what I had heard about Vernal - there was lots of farm space and things like that. I hadn't been out to my sister's house since she moved and so I was excited to see her house and to visit with family.
While we originally struggled with a date, we found that the weekend of August 1 - 3 would be the best. My sister invited us to come up on Thursday evening and leave Sunday evening. She let each family decide what time frame worked best for them.
Because I was anxious for a vacation of some kind, I convinced Eric to head up Thursday night.
We originally thought we'd get out of the house around 1, but we didn't get out until about 3. We then had to drop Flower off at Eric's mom's house, which meant we were going to add an hour onto our drive. Eric's mom offered us lunch, but we had had lunch before we left and had plans to stop for dinner when we got to Heber.
So we head to the freeway. We aren't on for 10 minutes when we come upon a major wreck. There were at least 3 ambulances (if not more) and just as many police cars pass by. It probably took us a half hour to get past the wreck and get on our way.
We are in the vicinity of Park City when chaos starts. Jace starts crying, Nate (who had told us he felt car sick) pukes and Eric is asking me what exit he needs to take as he thought it was coming soon. Because of all the chaos, I got distracted and told him to turn too soon. We ended up on what has got to be THE BUSIEST interesection in Park City. It took us at least 10 minutes to get turned around and back on the freeway.
We get to Heber and eat dinner at Dairy Keen. The kids were pretty good and ate their food. We gave them a few minutes to play with the Lego table and play trains they have and then we decided we'd better get back on the road.
The weather was kinda stormy and we hit a rough patch of rain through one of the many canyons you drive through to get to Vernal. We found out quite quickly that Jace doesn't like the dark. He was screaming and nothing we did could calm him down. Finally he fell asleep and we got to my sister's without further incident.
When we got to my sisters we were greeted by her husband and step-kids and 3 kitties. I was a little worried as I knew Eric is allergic to cats, but we were quickly told the cats belonged to a neighbor who lets the kids play with them.
We get our tent put up and all our stuff situated and then we visited with my little sister (who had arrived earlier in the evening) and brother-in-law while we waited for my parents to arrive and my sister to get home from work. The kids had fun running around with their cousins (and the kitties), and I enjoyed sitting by the fire pit and relaxing.
My parents arrived kind of late and after visiting for only a short while, we decided to call it a night.
The next day we had a wonderful pancake breakfast and then the activities started. We started with t-shirt decorating. It's something my sister has done every Cousins Camp. After the shirts were all decorated we let the kids play while we got lunch ready and got ready to go swimming.
We had a great time at the Rec. Center and I'm sure the Rec. Center wasn't thrilled to see our huge group. The kids had a great time. They had so many fun things to do. They even have a moving pool type thing that the kids really enjoyed.
When we were done swimming, we all headed back to my sisters for the night. After dinner was cleaned up, we got all the kids together to watch a movie. The original plan was to watch it outside, but my older sister couldn't procure a projector and the one we had planned to take was missing its power cord - so we watched Frozen in the house. Surprisingly the kids all sat still and watched the movie through the end.
After the movie it was definitely time for bed.
We woke up the next morning and I had to have Eric run to the store as it was our turn for breakfast. He grabbed donuts, muffins and juice. It was enough to tide everyone over until lunch. After lunch we all prepped ourselves for a hike. We were going to be going to the area around Dinosaur National Monument.
We took the short 30 minute or so drive to the area and began our short hike. It was hotter than hot though and Jace hated being on my back. After we took a look at some petroglyphs, we went in the opposite direction and found the homestead of Josie Bassett. If you don't know who she is - don't worry, neither did I. Anyway, she was an interesting lady who preferred the quiet of the area and lived there for many years.
We had a scary incident for just a second, but it turned out okay in the end. My little 20 month old nephew took a bad step and fell into a stream. Thankfully, it was a super shallow and small stream and he fell backward and not face forward.
The next part of our trip took a few people on a slightly more rigorous small trail, while a couple of us (the ones with little babies) took a quick trip a few feet away and saw some more petroglyphs.
Before we headed out, we made a small stop and let the kids play in the Green River (I think). Yes, it was super muddy - but it was an extremely hot day and we didn't stay for longer than 10 minutes.
Then it was decided we'd go visit the Wall Of Bones at the Visitor's Center. We barely got there in time to catch the tram, but my Dad - thinking he had more time or something - took a potty break and the tram took off without him. My older sister was a good hostess and stayed behind waiting for him.
We got to the Wall Of Bones and wandered the area for a bit. After a little while we saw my dad and older sister and they were red in the face. They had decided to walk up to the center (not an easy walk). After Dad and Kami had a chance to catch their breath, we all took the tram back down to the visitor center and took the chance to get a cousin's picture. We were only missing one cousin, so it was pretty good timing.
We then started the trip back to my sisters. We had to stop at Walmart for diapers or something along the way and as we were driving I got a text asking me to grab some infant medicine for her baby girl and some cereal. We were glad to do it.
When we got back to my sisters, Eric and my brother-in-law changed the oil in our car. The kids played with the cousins some more and my older sister and brother worked together on dinner. We ate dinner around the firepit and once again just enjoyed each others company.
Nate started sounding really wheezy and I could tell his was working hard to breathe, so I snuggled with him until he fell asleep. I then made sure to move Nate into our tent with us so I could listen to him through the night. (He was previously sleeping with Lex and a couple cousins in a different tent.) Eric and I are pretty confident that he too, is allergic to cats.
We woke up Sunday morning and got our stuff packed and ready to go. We left around noon and made our way home. We hit plenty of patches of rain and I was so thankful Eric was driving. We had fun playing Would You Rather type games on the last leg of the trip.
We stopped at Eric's mom to pick up Flower and for dinner.
Overall, I think it was a good Cousin's Camp. There were a few things that weren't so great, though.
Because my older sister had a sick baby, she was extra stressed and had a hard time relaxing. We all had difficulty sleeping because my sister's backyard is right next to a farm type area. This guy had a freaking turkey that would NOT shut up that first night. I was ready to celebrate Thanksgiving early! The next night it was freaking llammas that the other neighbors had and the last night it was a bunch of dogs that couldn't quit yapping. We also had those kitties visiting us quite frequently.
Those are all minor things, though and I really enjoyed my time away from home.
And because I took way too many photos to post on this blog, I did what I do best - created a video. Enjoy!
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