Summer Family Vacation, Part 2

So, for part 2, we went camping up near Sedona, Arizona around Slide Rock National Park. We left on Wendesday and intended to stay until Saturday but we were all "camped" out and our air mattress had a leak so it made for 2 really long nights. We ended up leaving on Friday. We went "real" camping. We had no amenities, not even a picnic table. Spence built us a potty and the kids took a bath in a wash basin.

When I was looking on the internet on fun things to do while camping, I came across Geocaching. Geocaching is like a treasure hunt. You get GPS coordinates of where someone has hidden a box. You use the GPS to find the box and you can take something out of the box (usually small treasures) and you put your own "treasure" back in. This sounded like a blast so I borrowed our friends' GPS, took some things to replace what we took out, and we tried it. The first one said it was only a .5 mile hike from our campground but because we were still trying to figure out the best way to read the GPS, we ended up not finding it and our .5 mile hike ended up being around 5 miles, circling the top of a mountain. We weren't prepared with sunscreen on the kids or ourselves, so we were all fried. This was also another reason we ended up leaving early.

On our way down into Sedona, we decided to try the geocaching again. There were a few right off the road that we were "off-roading" in our van. The first one, I found all by myself. Those who know me know that I am not a great hiker but I do try. Well, I was so excited to find this geocache that I booked it and it was exhiliarating. Spence even commented that this is a way to get me to hike. Spence found 3 others with the dogs' help as I sat in the car and waited with the kids. There was nothing all that great in the geocaches but it was still a blast and we will try it again with some around here.

After the geocaching, we went to Slide Rock. It's a fun park where there are rock formations that are really slippery with a river going over them. So it's just a nature made water park but I think it's more for older kids.The water was really cold but Sariah jumped off a 10 foot cliff with Spencer. Good thing we brought their life jackets! Spence and I couldn't both be down at the water together because the dogs weren't allowed near the water so one of us had to wait at the top of the stairs with the dogs. After about 2 hours, we had had enough and wanted to get home.

Overall, this trip was fabulous and we were able to see things in our home state that we haven't seen the four years we have been here. The kids had fun and that's all that matters.

Our family at Slide Rock

Spencer giving the dogs kisses for a job well done.

I'm so happy that I found it!

Our toilet

The dogs loved camping. It was fun to put a glow stick on their collar and see two different floating lights in the middle of the woods. They loved playing fetch and there were no rules to break while camping. They even got to lay next to us in the tent!

DIRT MONSTER!

I think he was trying to roll his eyes at me on this one.

This was the first night after only being at the camping spot for about an hour. It's gonna be fun!

Daddy made this rope swing. Brilliant!