Hells Canyon 2011

Since I missed Hells Canyon last year, I VOWED to myself that I would go this year, even if it meant going without Parker. Which is exactly what happened. Parker had some things come up at work and there was NO way he could take a day off....much less 2 days off. And to just go for Saturday......well it's just too far. A 5 hour drive for a one night stay?.....nah. He just decided he'll try to make it next year.

Me on the other hand.....I was not about to miss Hells Canyon for TWO years in a row! Not going last year, felt like I was missing Christmas. So I took the kids and Thursday after work, we drove to my Mom and Dad's house. (2 hours away). And then Friday morning, we left at about 7:00 AM and drove the other 3 hours. Not so bad when you break it up over two days.

I have to say. My kids are angels. Both of my sisters came with their husbands and 4 children each. Plus my 2 made TEN kids ages 7 and under camping in the heat. Thank goodness we had the camper, and flushing toilets and showers....and....AIR CONDITIONING! With that many babies, we had to do naptimes in shifts.....and the ONLY way that was possible was because Anna brought my old window air-conditioner and blew it into her little tent. It actually worked quite well. I know. An air conditioned tent. It's a crazy thought. But because of it, we were able to go camping for 3 days in the 90 degree weather with lots and lots of babies.


Caleb just LOVES spending time with his cousins! They are by far his best friends. The older kids did really well taking care of themselves and staying out of trouble. Camrey, Logan, and Angie were the ones we really had to watch. Each of them are in the terrible two stage.....and incredibly curious in nature. We had to keep them from wandering off, and eating rocks and dirt. Logan and Angie ran around barefoot 90% of the time. I couldn't get Angie to keep her shoes on. And then BAby Lexi who can't walk, but still able to crawl, climb, and of course FALL. She too eats rocks and dirt and any kind of food that's been dropped and then stepped on. But over-all I would have to say I was generally surprised at how well ALL of the children did.......especially my own. ;)

I'm happy to report that my kids slept through the night all 3 nights. The 2nd night Caleb had a little accident in his sleeping bag. But he woke up before completely emptying his bladder, and was able to finish his business outside. His pants and underwear were quite wet....but luckily his sleeping bag was not very wet at all. The 2nd night (Friday) was also the night when a SKUNK wandered into our campsite. The stench woke me up instantly.....and then, of course, I had to go to the bathroom. However, I wasn't about to un-zip that tent and step outside and scare the skunk and get sprayed. So I laid there for an HOUR.....waiting for the smell to go away. I couldn't go back to sleep until I'd gone to the bathroom.....and I wasn't gonna go until it was gone. So I laid there and prayed it would leave. Even my parents who were sleeping inside the camper woke up to the smell.

We spent lots of time on the boat, and lots of the time at the beach. We stayed as wet as possible, because it was VERY hot. I water skiied 5 times. And of course the water was amazing (that's the REAL reason we go.....is to ski on that flat water).



Caleb really enjoyed swimming. He learned to float with a life jacket, and that it's ok if you can't touch the bottom. He even plugged his nose and stuck his head under water a few times. This is actually quite a bit of progress for him. Although he never would jump off the dock or boat into the water, he would sit down and climb in. And he liked to. In fact he wanted to swim around the boat nearly every time someone finished skiing.


We also celebrated Anna's 33rd birthday while we were up there. We had german chocolate cake and homemade ice cream.


The kids had so much fun together. Swimming, and the older ones even got to fish a little bit. Dejah caught 3 fish....but nobody else was able to catch anything. They still had fun casting their lines and reeling them in though.

Our campsite was quite the sight to behold. With the camper in the middle, we took up 2 camp-sites. We also had 2 shade tents that were life-savers and created the common area where we sat and ate and visited. We laid tarps on the ground so the babies could walk and crawl around without too much dirt and scrapes.
The picture below shows my tent (blue) and Melissa & Tory's big tent. And on the left.....the little black trailer carrying.......yes that's a fridge behind that pink towel. And it was FULL of food! With 10 children and 7 adults, we had to have SOME way to transport all that food. And since there IS electricity at Hells Canyon.....why fill ice chests when you can just take a fridge?

Here's a video of the kids saying "Bon Voyage" as we packed up camp. Except they pronounced it "Bon Voyaggie!" Cute.

It took 4 hours to break down camp. Yes. Four long hours. And as we drove back home, the first 2 hours were like this.

Of course my other 2 hours drive was NOT so pleasant. Angie is NO fun to take on car rides. She whined, and cried the entire time. I'm SOOO glad to be home!! And now.....with PILES and PILES of laundry, and NO groceries in the house. Dirty bathrooms and dishes.....I think I'm ready for a vacation. ;)