Camping and Palmyra day 1

Besides going to Utah to see grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins, the kids each had two requests of things to do this summer:  Zabien - go camping, and Eliza - see the place where Joseph Smith lived.  In fact, Eliza has been begging to see "all the stuff about Joseph Smith" for almost a year now.  On our 20 minute drive to church, we go past a state park which is surrounded by a beautiful forest.  In August of last year after learning about Joseph Smith in primary and nursery, both kids mentioned that those trees must have been where Joseph Smith prayed.  Although they were in the wrong state, I mentioned that we could see the sacred grove and a pageant about the book of Mormon next summer.  They surely remembered my promise because every Sunday when we drive past that same forest, they both ask the same question, "when are we going to see the place where Joseph Smith prayed."  Finally their wish was granted.  We decided it was the perfect way to combine both of their requests if we camped near Palmyra and spent a day seeing the sights.

We left on Monday July 11 and drove the 5 hours up to Phelps, NY where we set up our tent at Cheerful Valley campground.  It wasn't a bad campground, especially considering that we didn't actually book a site until the Saturday before we planned on going.  All the kids were super excited - even Hazel who didn't have a clue at what was going on, she just liked standing on the tarp.

                                        

Zabien and Eliza even set up their own camp chairs (which Hazel immediately claimed)

                                   

and set out their own sleeping bags. 

After camp was set up, they took some time to play on the playground, relax in the pool, and bounce around on the giant jump pad.
 

Love this baby girl wearing my sunglasses

Bruce got the charcoal hot and ready, then played with the kids in the pool, while I cooked the dutch oven chicken pot pie. 

It was super delicious, and loved by all.  I'm so glad I bought that charcoal chimney - it made dutch oven cooking loads easier, especially since we had a batch of dud wood. 

After dinner, we played on the playground some more.  I asked the kids, "who loves camping?"  and this is the response I got. 

Hazel loves the swings at the park - she could literally play there forever.  Soon it was time to start a fire so we had good coals for marshmallow roasting.  Hazel was eager to help us by gathering firewood.  (I'm sad this picture is blurry because she was super cute trying to pick up this log and bring it over to the fire pit, but she was also moving around way too much to get a decent shot)

Finally the time had arrived.  I bought giant marshmallows at the store thinking they would be awesome on smores.  Actually, they were so big the older kids had trouble eating them, and Hazel didn't even know what to do with it. 

 Overly ambitious, Zabien wanted to roast 2 marshmallows, but he didn't want to eat either one. 

I love Eliza's face in this picture.  I seriously have never seen this facial expression before.  Too funny! 

That first night got surprisingly chilly.  I was glad I packed the kids fleece sleeper jammies because they sure needed them.  I wish I could say that we slept well because the temperature was cooler.  Wrong!  We accidently left the tent partially opened and got eaten alive by mosquitos.  Not kidding.  Zabien had 10 bites across the back of his neck and 10 more on his hands.  Hazel had at least a dozen on her face and probably 10 more on each hand.  Poor girl.  I had a bunch on my ankles, and somehow Eliza miraculously ended up with none.  This is what you get when cold, mosquito bitten kids want to snuggle with a sleepy mom.