After having been cooped in the house all summer and having had sickness in our house for over 2 months straight, we decided a weekend away from home was in order. With Labor Day right around the corner, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to get a breath of fresh air.
Aimee went to bed Thursday night with the startings of a fever. I had brought her to the doctor on Friday and she was diagnosed with bronchitis and given a prescription for antibiotics. This was just the beginning of the excitement our weekend would hold.
Ryan ended up getting out of school a little early on Friday, so we were on the road by 3:30pm. A few miles down the road we get a text from Jayke's scout leader saying that the road was completely closed due to a rollover accident. By the time we were a few miles from Sunflower/Slate Creek Hill, we saw the DPS officer slowing traffic down and then we were at a sudden stop. Knowing the situation, we parked the car in the road and started to make ourselves comfortable. After a while, V needed to get out and stretch so I took her outside to walk around. I had been walking with her a few minutes when I heard someone call my name. I looked around and saw a woman looking at me, so I went to go see who it was that knew me. Surprisingly, it was the family that delivers us free wood mulch for our yard/garden. We had a good time chatting while we were waiting for the accident to be cleaned up. Overall, we were stuck there for less than 2 hours, which was not too bad considering the severity of the accident and the volume of traffic on the roads.
When we started driving again, we had a little incident when Aimee told us she didn't want to throw up. We quickly passed some bags to her and then she began to empty her stomach into them. She repeated this one other time at the campsite after having her antibiotic, making me think she might be allergic. Thankfully she isn't and we were able to successfully give her medicine to her.
We also had an issue with V doing her breath holding spell again. Jayke was helping her rub some hand sanitizer onto her hand and she became upset about it and started crying....and then the crying paused. I knew exactly what what happening, so I turned around and her mouth was a mottled blueish color. She was still conscious, but definitely not looking right. I yelled at her to stop, I yelled at Ryan to stop, and I jumped out of the car to snap her out of it. Thankfully, she took her breath when I opened her door.
When we got to Payson, we dropped Jayke off at his scout camp-out and headed on our way to our camp site. While we were stuck in traffic, we had made plans with my sister, Amber, to camp with her and her friends. We had a bit of trouble finding them, since we typically do dispersed camping rather than campground camping and we had no cell reception to call them for directions. We did not realize how the campground was set up, with all its side roads and loops, so the first time through we didn't even try down the road they were camping on. We did eventually find them and got camp set up by 8:30pm.
We fed the kids dinner and put them to bed. Ryan and I stayed up to watch the fire die down. The whole evening we listened to the neighboring campers' music. As the night progressed, the music became louder and louder. It finally quieted down around 2am. Ugh! The next morning we were awakened at 6:30 to someone's music blasting. Seriously?! Is this how people camp now? What ever happened to being in nature? One of my sister's friends is a DPS officer and he went over to their camp and may or may not have flashed a badge and told them to turn it off. Thankfully they complied and we were able to sleep a little longer.
Ryan ended up leaving to go pick Jayke up from his camp-out. He didn't know exactly what time they were going to be ready, so he headed out fairly early. He ended up not returning until mid afternoon.
I took the kids down to the lake, which was quite a mistake. The trail leading to the lake was steep and the lake on this end left much to be desired. We typically camp on the other side of the lake and really enjoy the trail going down the other side. There is actually a little meadow area on the other side and water shallow enough to play in. Now we know to not take kids to this side of the lake.
After we came back from the lake, I went on a little walk with the girls on a nearby trail. We found some fresh bear scat, which was very comforting, but really enjoyed being in nature where it was actually quiet. When we returned, the kids quickly made friends with all the other kids there and played all day. They built forts, explored the forest, played games, and all the other things kids do while camping. After Jayke joined in mid-afternoon, they spent the next couple hours playing capture the flag. The boys especially enjoyed having friends their age to play with. They really had a lot of fun!
My parents, my sister Deanna, and her husband Luiz surprised us by coming to visit us at camp. We spent the afternoon talking and enjoying each others' company. By the time dinner came around, the music blasting had started up again. All the neighboring campsites had more than doubled in size and were looking more like parking lots than camp sites. One group started having a birthday celebration. I was not ready for another sleepless, loud night, so we decided to ditch the campground and sleep at my parents' house. We packed up in record time and were at their house in a little over an hour. That night we enjoyed flushing toilets, running water, warm beds, and electricity (which made it much easier to give Aimee a breathing treatment).
We spent Sunday lounging around, catching up with family, and playing with cousins. It was a most enjoyable day.
We wanted to make sure we avoided the majority of the traffic on the way home so we decided to go home Sunday night. We meant to stay only until dinnertime, but we ended up staying until 10:30pm before heading home. It was the perfect time for wildlife to be out and near the roads. I have never seen so many deer on the roadside as I did on this trip. Thankfully none of them decided to jump in front of us. We did see a freshly hit elk on the road coming down the Rim. A little further down the road we saw a vehicle stopped and someone was inspecting the outside of their vehicle. After we went through Payson, we were behind someone with obvious impairment. Luckily for them, they ended up turning off the highway before the DPS officer I called could get to them.
Despite all of its challenges, we really loved the weekend. We loved the trees, the green, the cool (almost cold) temperatures. We loved just being away from the confines of our house. We loved seeing family again and especially talking with Deanna and Luiz, who are visiting from Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). We really loved having a break from our crazy life. We are even more excited to do it all again soon on our ward camp-out.
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