camping

One of the great things about living in Idaho is that every fall, school lets out for "spud harvest vacation".  I'm not kidding! School lets out for 1 - 2 weeks depending on which school district you live in.  (In our district we got a week and one day this year.) The reason for this vacation is that all the potato farmers need help harvesting their potatoes, so the schools let out so that the students can get jobs working in the potatoes.  I'm thinking that Kami and Caden will want to try getting jobs on the potato crews one of these years soon, but for now, we use potato harvest as a family vacation time. 

Last year we went and visited my family and went to the Oregon coast.  This year we wanted to do something inexpensive and weren't sure what to do about Jack (arg!!) while we were gone, so we decided to go camping. Shawn took the week off from work, and we decided that we'd go for two nights and three days.  We loaded up the canoes and grandpa Gee's four wheeler and everything else fun that we could think of to do and eat, and finally headed out Tuesday after lunch.

After we arrived, everyone got busy setting up camp:


The littlest wood carriers



Kami and Caden setting up the tent



Shawn set up a tarp where those boards are because we were expecting some rain!

 It was a beautiful evening and surprisingly warm for October.  That night, we were sitting around the campfire and Shawn was reading to us from a book (Mrs. Mike) that we're reading aloud as a family, when I suddenly heard noises in the trees nearby. I told Shawn to stop reading and we heard a large animal grunting and moving  - did I mention that it was REALLY close by?  I immediately thought of bears.  Anyways, everyone was looking concerned and anxious, so we told the kids to get in the car.  Shawn stayed outside and listened until it sounded like it had passed, then he got in the car with us and we drove down the road to see if we could see what it was. 

It wasn't long before a big bull moose came walking around one of the big ponds up there.  He wasn't the least concerned about us and kept coming, almost right up to the car, even though our lights were shining right on him.  So that was our big adventure.  After the little girls saw what it was, they weren't worried anymore, either.  We have moose in our yard almost every day, so it didn't seem like a big deal to them.


I thought I ought to include a pict. of the guy who makes all this happen.  I was telling Kami that I love going camping because it's a big break for me.  Shawn's a great camp cook and does it all!

I had visions of us going to bed and reading for awhile by lantern light, but Abram wasn't about to lay down and calmly listen.  He turned into the energizer bunny or something, and started running faster and faster around the tent and laughing hysterically, so we turned out the lights to calm him down.
During the night it started to rain, but we were as cozy as could be.  The next morning, the sleeping bags that had been around the edges of the tent were a little wet.  We thought that maybe we could dry them out as the day went on, (it was supposed to be scattered showers) but the rain kept coming and it started to get colder and colder.  At lunch- time we decided that the rain wasn't going to quit, so we packed up and came home early.  A good decision, it turns out, because we had an inch or two of snow sticking around on Thursday and Friday! We ended up continuing to have a fun and relaxing week at home.  Man I love it when Shawn doesn't have to work!!

I hope the potato farmers have enough help to get their potatoes out of the ground this week since the weather didn't cooperate during harvest break.