Big Basin Camping

So, Alison and I realized that this was the first Labor Day we haven't been in Utah for since we moved to CA -- or at least it seems that way. EY would always bring us out for BYU recruiting as school starts and we would tack on a few extra days plus the holiday to come out and see family . . . So much for that. Instead we decided to have our own weekend away.

We started out by having our first official camp out as a family -- plus the added company of "Uncle. Scott" and Bronwen. Unfortunately due to an unanticipated deadline at work we got a little bit of a late start, which meant eating dinner on the way there rather than cooking hot dogs over the campfire. We got to the camp site around 9pm (Lina asleep in the car), got set up, did s'mores with everyone but Lina, got Ruthie in the tent to go to bed, chatted with Scott and Bronwen, then when Ruthie was out we moved Lina into the tent.

 Alison and Bronwen bunked up and Scott was brave enough to man the little kid tent with me. Amazingly enough Lina slept in until 6:30 or so, and didn't try to wake Ruthie up until 7am. Once that happened the girls and I got dressed and went exploring so the rest of the sleepy heads could rest in peace. All in all it was a fun adventure, no one got hurt, neighbors were not kept awake by the potentially incessant sounds of Ruthie asking "Where are we?". Given that, we plan to do it again. We have a ward camp out on 9/12 and a beach camp site reserved at the end of the month in Santa Cruz.

Saturday night all the campers went out to a new (at least to me) Chicago deep dish pizza place in downtown Palo Alto. It's the real deal. (See Ruthie trying to balance my root beer bottle top on her nose). Sunday was church and napping. Monday involved a stake pancake breakfast (word to the wise -- doesn't matter how good the eggs and hashbrowns might be, without catsup they are NOTHING!). We washed the cars. Then we took the girls to see the 3-D movie "Fly me to the Moon." (Enjoy the picture with their 3-D glasses) The girls loved the 3-D effect once they realized that the bugs couldn't get them. :). After that I took the girls to the pool. Lina is now a natural swimmer with her floatie and Ruthie is getting pretty daring - takes after her sister.