Labor Day is a lot of work!

Labor day weekend was alot of work! Why? Because we decided to go camping. I had not been camping in a long time. We decided to head north to Prescott to see where we would end. Our pre-trip involved making sure we had everything we needed and also convincing a couple of kids that this was a great idea. After I threatened these two kids they politely accepted like a good little boy and a little girl. We had room for 9 and we filled it with 9. Three adults and 6 kids in age ranges of 7 to 15. Since all the seat were taken, we loaded the roof rack with all the essentials. Before we headed out, we met up with my dad who is the master at packing and loading. I knew he meant business when he came out with his aviator sunglasses. He kept bringing out stuff for us to take such as folding chairs, an umbrella, a water jug, binoculars, a cooler and last but not least, one of these 

                                                                             

He wanted to make sure we would survive! We headed out. After a couple of stops and although everyone had ate before we left, several children claimed to be hungry. Being the nice adults we are (fools) we stopped and they got a snack. We finally arrived in Prescott and headed towards Lynx lake which is in the mountains of Prescott. 

Much to our not surprise, there were no campsites available. *sad face :(

We continued on ready to find our location, then, 2 out of the 3 adults on board, remembered that there was a place near Cherry that has campsites so we headed there. When we arrived, we realized that not many people knew about this hidden place so we were excited that we had finally arrived at our wooded destination. We quickly set up 3 tents and began unloading our stuff. The kids came in handy as they gathered wood for our fire and not to mention to cook our dinner. I, being the unexperienced camper took marshmallows but neglected to take the graham crackers and chocolate to make S'mores.

It didn't matter that the S'mores were only toasted marshmallows because after the complaining was done, they enjoyed themselves *happy face :)

After sitting around the bonfire for a bit and watching the stars, we all headed to bed. One tent (the one I was in which was the coolest tent on site, was filled with 4 bodies oh and my sexy body too). The other two had two campers each. The younger kids were all giddy so I had to pull out my night-time story telling skills. I had to dust my skills off a bit because they hadn't been used in a while. For those that heard my gingerbread man story that night, knew that there was an adult version going right along with the kid version but the little kids never knew. Their innocent minds didn't go there.Thank God!! *brahaha face

We all soon settled down and fell asleep only to be awakened by an awful sound... coyotes!!! Oh crap, I have never been so scared in my life and the sounds were awful. I wanted to run out of my tent and into my car!!

The next morning and after not getting much sleep we all woke up and prepared to leave. Before we could leave, we were paid a visit by Kathy. Kathy lives nearby and has a beautiful cabin nestled in the woods. She came to check on us and see how we did the night before. Kathy laughed when we told her about the coyotes and invited us to come up and stay at her cabin. DON'T MIND IF WE DO!!! Kathy has a jeep and is known to give people tours around her property. Anyone who has been in the jeep with her know all about her adventures. Kathy is in her late 50's but the energy this woman has is unbelievable. Her adventurous spirit will make the toughest man cry! She also has drives a Ranger Polaris RZR and although I didn't get a ride, all the kids did and they loved it! She also knows alot about wild animals and is filled with her adventure stories

Later that night and after everyone settled down, we made another bonfire but this time it was on Kathy's property. The next day, I woke up early and took advantage of being alone and took a shower in the outdoors shower. Once I was all sqeaky clean, I then learned all about hummingbirds through a book laying on a coffee table. Did you know that hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down? yup they can, they are pretty amazing!

To my surprise, I did not take any pictures. My phone was in the car all the time but I did manage to capture this image...

All this work of loading, unloading, loading again, gathering wood, cooking was a lot of labor but the fun we had was worth it.

Kika