Our First Overnighter in the "Wilderness"

I haven't been camping since college, although I did several trips with my parents when I was young. Nathan, for those of you who know him, is not a big outdoorsman. That, combined with our family's complete lack of camping supplies, meant that we had never spent the night together out of doors...

...until Aug. 26, 2011, when we did the first Barrett family overnighter at Camp Zion (up Mt. Lemmon north of Tucson), as part of the Sahuarita First Ward Family Camp-Out.

I was able to purchase some sleeping bags for the girls at the community yard sale back in June. In addition, a family friend gave us their old tent to keep! It's a little weathered & worn, but we thought it would suffice for us "newbies."

Despite being a novice camper, I thought Nathan did a great job setting up the tent & hauling all our stuff from the car...

...although it did tire him out!

We weren't sure about the fire restrictions on the mountain (due to the fires earlier this summer, there's been a blanket ban on open fires for months), so we just brought sandwiches & chips for dinner. When we get there, it turns out most families had made fires. Oh well...I guess we could have had S'Mores after all!

Anyway, Camp Zion is a beautiful place, and it was a nice break from the heat. We didn't have many activities planned...we just hung out & talked with our friends in the ward. Our girls had a great time exploring the campgrounds and climbing on rocks. That night, the ward auxiliaries put on a variety of skits at the amphitheater, including a very strange one by the Bishopric involving synchronized swimming...

Hmm. Then Lorelai & I sampled some Dutch-oven dessert (apple & cherry cobbler, yum!), and our family took a small hike down a stony hill to a beautiful overlook. From it, you can see most of the city of Tucson; it's quite a spectacular sight at night with all the lights on. At the same time, it's a little sad to be reminded of the hot city to which we would have to return the next morning!

Our night in the tent was a mixed bag. I used to scoff at all the people who brought air mattresses, foam pads, etc. on their camp-out. "Wimps!" I would think. "You're not really roughing it!" And then...well, I spent a night in a tent with only sleeping bags & blankets for padding. Let me just say that I am a little older than I used to be, and these old bones were pretty sore in the morning! I am not going to go buy an air mattress right away or anything, but...I can sympathize with the "comfort campers" a lot more than I used to.

Plus, Aurora woke up in the middle of the night and spent most of the rest of the night crawling across my face/back/shoulders, fussing and crying for most of that time. At one point, her belly was right in my face, and her left leg was draped across my right shoulder...and she was kicking my back! I ask you, how is that comfortable for anyone???

So, it was with bleary eyes that I took in the sunrise through the tent window. However, I'd volunteered to help cook breakfast for the ward, so I was off to the lodge...

I was on sausage duty (snicker snicker). A few of my friends had bigger jobs, like cooking pancakes and eggs for 100+ people, cutting up mountains of cantaloupes, and tending all the spare babies...

...luckily, breakfast was delicious!!

After that, it was time to pitch the tent and hit the road. But before we left, there was time for our kids to get into mischief. Aurora got stuck in a mesh fence...

...and Lorelai had to bid a tearful farewell to a scaly new friend...

The children had started spotting these little horned toads all over the campsite the previous afternoon. Several kids managed to grab them & stick them in cups/bowls/etc for further observation. Early Saturday morning, Lorelai finally got her hands on one of the lizards, and she was in heaven playing with her new "pet"! She didn't take it well when we told her she needed to leave it behind...we just didn't have a place for a horned toad in Sahuarita. She was pretty sad, but she understood.

Overall, we had fun (at least, the kids & I did...I'm not sure about Nate, but at least he survived :) ). Hopefully this will be the first of many camp-outs for our family; we'll see what the future holds. Maybe we'll try it again when the weather gets a little cooler...