Memorial Day Weekend of fun

For Memorial Day weekend, we went camping as a family in Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We drove there Thursday and got there in time to make tin foil dinners, explore a little and enjoy some s'mores over the fire. We tried to find a few geocaches, but we couldn't find them (we didn't know it wasn't a container we were looking for, but just the sign). Caden was pretty bummed. Caden was SO excited to go that he helped to pack the car, to be happy in the car for a few hours drive, and then he helped to unpack everything and get it all set up. Around 6:30, he said "I want to go to bed". This is VERY unusual for him, but he was just so excited to sleep in his cars tent that we put up inside our tent.


One of the highlights of the trip was being able to talk to Russ for a long time. We talked the whole drive there and then we stayed up late talking by the campfire. It was SO good to be able to talk about everything that is going on, our worries, our joys, our stresses, etc. We have such a great friendship and it was so wonderful to just be together away from all the distractions of life.
After breakfast on Friday, we went on a hike. This was the first hike that Caden walked on his own the whole way. He walked 1 mile! We were so proud of him and he kept saying "I am a really good hiker". There were also numbered posts that he was excited to look for that gave information about the area. We then watched a movie about how the Black Canyon came to be and Caden picked up a junior ranger kit. We filled it out that day and then took it back that night for his surprise: a junior ranger pin. He was so excited. We drove down to the river at the bottom of the canyon to do some mid-day fly fishing. Russ taught Caden how to fly fish with his rod, which was about 2 times as long as Caden. Russ was a great teacher and Caden had a ton of fun. I enjoyed the scenery! :)
We went back to the tent for some relaxing time. Both Russ and I took turns taking naps while the other one read books to Caden. Then we went on another hike, roasted hot dogs and went back to the river for more fly fishing. While Russ was fishing, Caden tried catching bugs to feed the fish with and finally caught one after 15 minutes....see the pure joy on his face!
The most funny thing is that right after he caught the bug, he was so excited that he slapped his other hand down on top of it and killed it. We were all laughing so hard! Then Caden went to play in the dirt and got filthy dirty...that is what camping is for, right? Russ and I enjoyed watching the deer on the other side of the river and just taking in the peace that nature brings.
Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and packed up. We then drove to Curecanti (a national recreation area that was on the way home) and tried to find a geocache. Once again we were unsuccesful until we realized that there wasn't a hidden container. We just had to find the informational sign. Boring. We drove a little farther and stopped by the reservoir to eat a picnic lunch and to throw hundreds of rocks into the water. Caden loved doing big splashes, and Russ and I tried to get each other wet by throwing big rocks into the water. We also skipped rocks, and Russ had some pretty impressive throws!

On Sunday we enjoyed going to church and being clean! Russ went dirt biking on Monday with some friends and Caden and I went to the neighborhood pool that just opened. Monday night we had a family over for a BBQ. It was a very fun and full weekend. We couldn't have asked for more!