Jim took Friday, May 20 off work so we could do an extended weekend getaway. It's been a long time since we've done an overnighter or anything. We've been wanting to camp, and we needed to do something for our anniversary. We decided to go up to Ventura so we could hang out with the Deetrixes and get our camp on.
We left Thursday night and got to the Deetrixes' about 9:45 P.M. It ended up taking us a long time to get ready and out on Friday. Jim had to make a run to the store for some food and other items. Betsy and Ever played. Wrenzy mostly had to entertain herself, and I had to keep her off the stairs.
She liked the vintage-looking toys in Gunnar's room:
Tristan got out of school after noon. We left Shan (with Gunnar) at home to finish packing up their stuff, and we took Tristan and Betsy with us to the Rose Valley campground (where we had hiked when Court and I were in Ventura in March). We got the very last open spot. The girls spent much time on the big boulders by the site. Betsy did a lot of
Little Mermaid posing, but unfortunately I didn't get a pic of her in the Ariel position.
Setting up camp was hard with a Wrenzo. I couldn't put her down in the dirt and broken glass. She mostly screamed when I tried to leave her in the pack n' play. I ended up holding her a lot of the time, leaving Jim to set up the tents, etc. alone. It took forever. We also realized we needed to get in touch with the Deetrixes about a couple of things (including the passes required for us to be there), so we loaded back in the car and headed back down the road about a half an hour until we got cell service to call them. After we returned to the site, Jim started the fire so it would be ready when the Deetrixes came up to meet us. I had hoped for a hike to the waterfall that afternoon, but there ended up being time for nothing, given our kid-induced inefficiencies and the cell phone situation.
After Dee, Shan, and Gunnar arrived, we cooked tin foil dinners. At least one was pretty much charred beyond edibility, which was sad, but there was still enough food for everyone. The kids, while dinner cooked:
My sweet girls. Wrenzo suddenly seems so big:
Of course dinner was followed by s'mores for dessert. Tristan was more interested in burning the marshmallows than properly roasting and eating them, but we kept him in check enough that the rest of us got our fill. Ever was very pleased:
We had set up three tents, planning to put Ever, Tristan and Betsy in their own. Dee and Shan were afraid the kids would freeze to death, so we ended up just having a Kringel tent and a Hastings tent. It was so late by the time I took Wren into our tent, and she was so tired. She cried and cried while I changed her and dressed her for bed. I put tons of layers on her to try to keep her warm. (Temps were in the 30s overnight.) I put my hand over one of Wrenzo's cold hands and sang to her and finally got her calm. Unfortunately our sleeping bags weren't in position, and nobody else was in bed. I called for Jim, and then when I moved Wren up on the air mattress to get her in a better position, she lost her mind again. Eventually we all got settled in - Jim and I on either side of Wrenzo on the air mattress, and Ever on the Thermarest on the other side of me. (We knew Wrenzo would just scream if we put her in the pack n' play, so we gave up on that before we even tried it.) Jim proceeded to have the worst night of his life. After he finally got Wrenzy quieted down, I fell asleep. I woke up and saw that it was kind of bright outside, and I heard the people at the adjacent site talking. I thought we'd experienced a miracle - it was morning already, and we'd all slept all night without waking once. Then I realized the brightness outside was from the giant moon above our tent, and the people at the adjacent site were just up partying because I had probably only been asleep for about 10 minutes.
Thereafter began hours of Jim trying desperately to get Wrenzo to go back to sleep when she awoke crying every 10 minutes. He moved her back and forth from her own sleeping bag into his sleeping bag (which doesn't really have room to spare) trying to keep her warm. He slept with his arm under her much of the time, which made his arm fall asleep. Wrenzo had never slept with us. She'd never slept in a tent. She'd never slept under a blanket, let alone in a sleeping bag. She'd never been in freezing temperatures. All these factors, I am sure, contributed to her great unhappiness. At one point shortly after we went to bed, when Wren was crying inconsolably, Jim was like, "I need help. I don't know what to do here." I sat up to show my solidarity, but I didn't know what to do, either. I was thinking I'd have to wake Dee, get their house key, and drive Wrenzy back to Ventura. Somehow Jim got her to quiet down (temporarily), and we made it through the whole night (with frequent crying spells by Wrenzo). The crazy thing was that the people at the adjacent site were up all night long. Every time Wrenzo woke me up, I heard them all still talking. That was the blessing of the night. I would've been so worried about waking them if they hadn't partied all night.
In contrast to Wrenzo, Ever was a champion. She slept great, mostly turned with her head up on the air mattress and the rest of her down on the Thermarest. She woke up and adjusted a few times when Wrenzy was crying, but she went right back to sleep. We never heard a peep out of any of the Deetrixes, either. Their kids, including baby Gunnar, were amazing.
It seemed as if Wrenzy were going to be up for the day around 6:00 A.M. (when the campground was completely quiet, the party animals having finally gone to bed), but she settled back down for a decent doze until closer to 7:00. We were able to stay in the tent until temps were warming up and I didn't have to worry about waking others at an inappropriate hour. So that was something.
Jim warmed water for oatmeal for breakfast, and we discovered that Wren really likes oranges:
Then we packed everything up. Wrenzy hung out in the pack n' play for a while but generally made things difficult again. I did a lot of baby holding. Turns out camping with a child who is mobile but unable to walk is really hard.
From our campsite, we drove on down the road a short distance. We stopped at this spot for a couple of photos of the white rocks and yellow flowers:
We debated hiking a trail that took off from there but ended up going on down to the next spot. We were glad we did. We got to hike along the Sespe River, and it was a fun area. Someday we'll return and backpack in so we can camp by the river. There were a million people in the parking lot (including a bunch of scouts), but the trail we took wasn't too crowded.
After a tip from some friendly hikers, we found a spot by a swimming hole where we could hang out and eat lunch.
Tristan hiked up his britches and waded:
Wrenzy drenched herself:
Jim had gotten the three big kids the little Nutella snack things that come with crackers to dip. Ever didn't double-dip, so she ended up with a lot of leftover chocolate she had to dig out with her fingers:
While we were there, a group of scouts returned to their camp. (They had three big tents next to the swimming hole.) We spoke with the husband and wife in charge before we left, and it sounds like it was a group of disadvantaged youth, most of whom had never been camping before. That couple was so kind, and they made me think Jim and I need to try to save the youth of the world.
Anyway, some of the boys climbed high up the rock outcropping, but we never saw anybody jump. Tristan climbed up like a mountain goat but needed a little assistance from Deetrix to get down. Betsy wandered around to the base of the outcropping and then suddenly started freaking out. We thought she was just being dramatic, but it turned out she had stepped on a bee and been stung. This is during the freak-out. Betsy is visible behind the long grass, and Deetrix is trying to figure out what's going on:
While Dee and Shan cared for Betsy, Ever enjoyed the last of her water time:
Betsy made a miraculous recovery, got her shoes on, and hiked out like a champ. The girls both found ladybugs right before we left the swimming hole:
On our way out, Betsy told the nice couple with the scouts about her bee sting, and the wife offered her a cookie. Then she offered Ever one, too. So nice. Ever had a hard time walking and eating her giant cookie. She fell more than once, but she was careful never to drop her cookie.
Hiking out:
There were tons of yellow-flowered bushes along the trail, and the ladybugs seemed to love them. Ever kept wanting to find ladybugs. There was some strife when Betsy ran ahead and obtained the ladybugs first. On the whole, though, it was a very successful outing.
Tristan rode in our car on the way back, and he and Ever watched a movie. Ever's power to fight sleep, at least when a movie is on, is superhuman. Once we got home, though, she gave up and passed out on the couch.
After spending way too much time considering what we should do for dinner, Dee and I picked up pizzas, salads, and pizookies from BJ's. Ever had to be awakened for dinner. (See postscript for note about Ever's exhaustion.) We didn't get the kids to bed until late. Jim went to sleep right after that. I stayed up chatting with Dee and Shan because I just never manage to get myself to bed at a decent hour. It was a nice time, though.
Sunday morning we packed up and got on the road as early as we could. We went straight to our church building and caught the second half of stake conference.
Thus concluded a lovely weekend. It's great to have the Deetrixes within driving distance, and it was so nice to spend some time outside.
P.S. The Monday after we got back, Ever had preschool and a play date, so she missed her nap again. We were planning to do family home evening after dinner, but the chick just lost it. We were eating salad, and she wanted Jim's poppy seed dressing. I put a drop on her finger so she could try it. The next thing I knew, she had poured some dressing into her empty bowl and was trying to eat it with her hands. She had immersed both hands and was licking them. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. She was a mess. I said, "Ever, what in the world are you doing?" She started crying. "I just want to eat it. It's soooo good." It was hilarious - her cry-talking about how much she just wanted to eat the delicious salad dressing. I told her she couldn't eat it plain; it was supposed to go on salad. I poured some on salad for her. She ate a little and then said she wanted to put herself to bed. I said, "OK." I was so confused. In an instant, she was down the hall, heading for the stairs. I realized she was really just going right to bed that second. I called out instructions about going to the bathroom and brushing her teeth, and that was that. It was amazing. She never does that. We always read scripture stories, pray, and sing before bed. It's a whole thing. Usually Jim and I both go up with her to her bedroom. Plus she was going to have a treat for family home evening after dinner, and there's not much in the world she likes more than treats. No matter how tired she is, she always tries to talk to us, ask questions, hug us repeatedly, and do anything else she can think of to stall. I can't imagine how exhausted she must have been after our big weekend.
