Our last day at camp.
First off, I had to show what sleeping in our tent looked like. Greg and I were on one air mattress, Owen was in a Pack n Play, and all three kids were situated across a second air mattress. That they, throughout the night, wiggled their way off of and onto the floor of the tent. This morning Ellie's head was still on the air mattress, but everyone else is on the floor. The temperatures at night were great, with everyone sleeping with just blankets, except the girls who sweated it out in mummy bags because they were so excited to use them.
Owen with his fat lip in the morning, and Isaac in his new jacket Aunt Star gave him for his birthday.
On this last morning, Greg, Annie, Ellie, Grandpa, Ben, Lacy, Madi, Cody and Sara headed out bright and early to hike up to (or at least attempt, on the kids' part) Wheeler Peak. It's the second highest peak in Nevada, up above the treeline. Star, my Mom, 38-week pregnant Talina, me and the boys stayed behind to clean up camp. I don't have pictures of the girls' hike -- but Annie (whose ankle had been hurting) made it part way up before deciding to come back down with Grandpa and doing the significantly less intense nature hikes than the giant, intense peak-hike. Greg and Ellie though made it about 3.5 miles up the 4+ mile hike, and then back down again. Ellie impressively made it most of the way there, and even a quarter mile past the tree line. Then back down 3.5 miles or so. What a trooper!
Back at camp, the boys played with cousin Bailey in the mud. Lots and lots of dirt and mud. It was possibly Isaac's favorite part of the trip.
Getting ready to leave was a rough time for Ellie. Ellie out of all the kids, I think, had loved it the most. She'd talked at length about how she wished our campground (and accompanying stream and forest) were in our backyard. She could've stayed for weeks.
She cried a lot when we left. On the drive home I reassured her we'd go hiking again soon -- maybe even when they're off track again in three weeks. Isaac piped in, "Can we just get a hotel room next time?"
Someone loved the outdoors more than her little brother :-)
