DeGraff's blah, blah, blahg: Yosemite

Boy, are kids a lot of work!

Boy, is camping a lot of work!

So you know what camping + kids must equal = Eeeeeekkkkkk!

And what makes it all the more special is when you are packing the night before the big campout and one of your kids gets the FLU!

At about 11:30 pm Sunday night, after packing/preparing for several hours, Lucy threw up in her bed.

Awesome, we say. Maybe it's a fluke? She has thrown up before because of something she's eaten that didn't settle well. So hopefully that's it!

But what if it's not? Should we bag the whole thing?

Camping and the flu don't seem to mix!

We decide to carry on. She didn't throw up that much. Let's take our chances.

So we did. We had an excellent, easy drive. Jack didn't even get carsick around all those turns. Thanks to the Dramamine we tried 8 times to get him to swallow until we dissolved it and made him gag it down. But no FLU!

We set up camp. Troy did a lot of work in the 90+ degree heat of the day. Then he started to feel "woosy". Uh-oh. He tried to shake it off with a dip in the river, but eventually the bug got him.

We had to enjoy the foil dinners without him on the first night.

The kids LOVED assembling these. I didn't expect them to go over this well, but they found it so fun to prepare, cook, and unveil the finished dinner all by themselves. They were really tasty too.

The next morning Troy felt great. YAY! I don't think I could have held down the camp very long solo!

Jack was busy collecting "hay" for the fire. I know I've mentioned before that he is OBSESSED

with ALL things fire. He could collect wood ALL day, if we let him.

I learned quickly that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to keep Sam clean. He was just learning to walk, but crawling was his main mode of transport, so he and the dirt became one. At the end of the day I took a wipe to his hands, feet and mouth and called it good enough!

Sidenote: It was well into the 90's the week we were there, so we were SOOOO hot in camp. We went through tons of water, and our only refreshment was the river!

Troy was adamant about making really fancy camping dinners. Trust me, I was campaigning for weenies and beans! He borrowed a dutch oven from a co-worker and concocted this delicious chipotle chicken and rice dish. Oh man...the aromas were divine. The only problem was that we didn't have any fancy tools for lifting the dutch oven lid. So as you can see, he had to opt for some makeshift devices. Just as I was done taking these pictures, the lid tipped and dumped all the charcoal into the food. Oh boy, was he bummed. Or mad. Or maybe a teensy bit furious.

It was a real bummer. We tried to salvage it, but most of the food had tiny bits of crunchy charcoal. It was absolutely as tasty as it was aromatic...it was just a little bit crunchy.

The next night we bagged our planned meal and took everyone to the Curry Village cafe for burgers and fries. BEST MEAL I'VE EVER EATEN and best decision we've ever made!

These kids slept so well. The nighttime weather was warm enough to sleep lightly covered. It was heavenly!

Even Sam had great nights, but he kept waking up at 5:30ish. Usually Troy or myself would take him on a drive or bike ride to keep him quiet for the other campers. That was kinda brutal, but you do what you've gotta do.

I love this picture with Jack and his Lion.

This picture is a favorite too. All my kids LOVE daddy!

Troy built Jack this squirrel trap which provided hours of entertainment! It seemed like a good idea until the Yosemite Ranger came by and reprimanded me with dirty looks about the whole shenanigan.