Parker Canyon Overnight Camping Trip

Today we are headed up to Parker Canyon for a little over night stay. This time we are taking our camper and making it a trial run to see how the kids do. We are taking it easy and not rushing. Kids aren't even awake yet and it's already 8:00. I am really excited to go camping with the kids, Paul, and Abbey. I think its going to be so much fun to stay in our camper in a new location. So I'll be back a little later with updates.

We got to the campsite much later than we had anticipated. It was probably around 3. We knew the kids were going to be hungry because we hadn't had lunch yet so we decided to set up and have an early dinner. So we got the trailer set up and during the process I look out at the kids and see Justin and Kailee walking up and down the steps. Not a big deal cause both of them love steps. Then I see Kailee start walking up the side of the step which were slightly more inclined than the others. Oh great here comes JP right behind her. So I step and tell them to stay off the side ones. No sooner than I finish telling them and turn around to head back to the trailer do I see JP start to tumble down the center of the stairs. He lost his footing and before I can even get back to them he's falling face first down the sitars. BAM his hands do not hold him up and his face takes a bouncing off the concrete steps. Immediately he starts screaming so I run to pick him up and try my hardest to soothe him and quiet him down since we are the only people with kids in the whole area and we all know what a traumatized hurt two year old can sound like. So I'm sitting there holding him, telling him it's ok with Kailee on my side all upset asking if he's ok I start to see blood at the corner of his mouth. I say open your mouth and his entire mouth is filled with blood. I had already evaluated the lovely knew cut to his chin, but to see his mouth filled up with blood all around the teeth and gum area really freaked me out. I just kept thinking oh my gosh how am I going to explain all his teeth being chipped and busted out to the dentist and oh crap how do I get to the dentist in a timely manor when we are all the way out here. So I go get some water to have his rinse his mouth out so I can better evaluate his teeth. Once he rinses his mouth out I start doing a teeth check making sure all are there not chipped or wiggling and am super surprised to see no damage to his teeth. However, I do find the source of the blood. He bit the inside of his cheek really well. After I let him up he was fine. You never would have known he just face dived down some stairs. I can honestly say he broke our campsite in LOL. This camping trip was all about first for the kids. They got to put the charcoal in the fire pit, they got to help put the lighter fluid in, they got to pretend to hold daddy's gun, chop wood, and even put the wood in the fire pit, as well as help with food preparation and adding the food on to the grill.
Around 5 Paul started the fire going and we got everything ready for dinner. The kids of course wanted hot dogs, Paul was having steak and baked beans, and me, well I had a salad. It was supposed to be topped with chicken but stupid me forgot I even brought chicken LOL. So we all eating dinner and the sun starts going down and let me tell you the sky was absolutely breath taking. The clouds started to change from white, to light pink, to hot pink, to neon orange, to a light purple and next thing you know the clouds are gone and we were looking at nothing but stars. After dinner and the kids playing some more we let them roast some marshmallows. Paul made sure the kids had everything they needed for smores and we all sat by the fire roasting marshmallows eating smores. The kids went from my lap to Paul's and I just really enjoyed our family time together. Well, minus all the mini heart attacks Justin kept giving me as he would walk around the fire LOL. Around 9 I took the kids inside and changed them into their pj's. After a few rounds of giggles and attempts to postpone their sleep we said out prayer, story, and song and they were out. I don't know around what time but Paul and I woke up freezing. We realized we left two windows open. So he closed those and turned on the heat. WOW! Talk about a nice luxery to have. Already here we are in a nice trailer opposed to a tent on the ground and now we get heat. I was in heaven. That's also when Paul discovered the fridge was definitely working and we had put the butter, sour cream, and eggs in the freezer and out eggs were frozen. After getting the camper nice and toasty him and I fell back to sleep. It was a really nice day of camping and quality family time.