I finally made it up to Christopher Creek this year. I've usually got pretty good excuses for not going...which is almost always that I have a baby and don't want to bring all the stuff that it would require to take care of the baby. Plus, I hate it when they are in the crawling or barely walking stage. They just get all dirty and clingy, etc. Usually when we go it's at the end of September and is always freezing. This year we went in July because it works out better for our families.
Needless to say, the kids had a blast. This was the first time that Gregor had been, the first time that Lucille had been as well. Gregor LOVED it! I'm not sure I can say the same for Lucille. She wasn't sure what the pine needles on the ground was all about. So for the first few hours we had to carry her around. I'm SO GLAD she did not just run off and do her own thing. She mostly just stayed by Dale and I the entire time. She did not like getting or being dirty. So I gave her lots of baby wipes. She loved up to Julie, Matt, and Grandpa Goodman...which she called Grandpa Wilstead. She did not like falling asleep at night. The first night she talked for an hour and a half until she finally fell asleep. All I heard was, "Mom! Baby Crying? Mom! Garbage Truck? Mom! Are you Sleeping?" Then she was talking to her baby doll while pretending to put her to bed as well. So cute! And the second night, Dale had to sing to her for about 15 minutes to get her to stop crying. She's pretty paticular about what he sings. No lullabies or "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". She likes Les Mis music like Stars. So funny!
Gregor had fun exploring everything. He ran around with Durham and Raulin or sometimes just stuck with his cousin Ella. He loved playing down at the creek - catching craw-dads. He says that the water hole was his favorite part. Please! Don't even get me started on that. We walked, no wait, I mean HIKED a half of a mile to this water hole. We had never been to this one, but Ryan Ricedorf had heard about it, so we and everyone else went along. The hike was really hard for those that had babies. They were either carried on the husband's shoulders or like me, in my stomach. Being pregnant with twins ( so i'm huge ) and going on this hike was for sure not the smartest thing i've ever done. I'm just glad I didn't trip and fall, though I came close a few times. Gregor said he got pretty tired as well. He kept saying his feet hurt - poor guy. He wore flip flops instead of shoes (so did I), which made it a lot harder. K! boo hoo! I'll talk a little more about the positive I guess. This paticular water hole was cool for older kids, not for young ones. There were cliffs and currents and everything else. Gregor never even went down into it. ( He later went to a better, more suitable water hole with Ryan Ricedorf). Lucille sat in front of me and could get her hands wet and stroke my belly to cool me off. She's so funny ( Sorry I keep going back to her), but she would lift up my tank and rub her hands all over my belly. Then she started stroking my hair as well. It was SUPER HOT, so the cool water was refreshing. Poor Kristin fell into the current down a cliff and broke her big toe nail off. So she wore my flip flops back and I wore her tennis shoes. Which ended up being my saving grace because it was a lot easier to walk in shoes than flip flops. Needless to say, I will never ever go back to this water hole unless it's 10 years from now when all my kids are older. I'll stick to the one we always have gone to just down the way from our camp - much better.
Durham had a ton of fun, he liked the water hole but was really scared to jump off. You should see the video. It must have taken him 15 minutes of trying to build up the nerve before his Uncle Loren finally picked him up and dropped him in. Then he kept jumping after that. He played baseball with his cousins and collected crawdads (?sp). Him and Raulin slept together in a little tent while Dale and I slept with Gregor and lucy in our tent.
Raulin's main thing was to get a huge stick to bring back. And Oh my Gosh! Thank you Loren for taking on this responsibility! Loren, thank goodness, loves walking sticks. So he found some really cool ones and helped Raulin with carving one. I'm not kidding when I say that Raulin was obsessed with this the entire time. His walking stick, that he will use with his Halloween Costume of Avatar. He pretty much pretends he's a ninja. He also loved the water hole and roasting marshmellows over the campfire.
I'm so happy to be home, back in my own house. It's not that I don't like camping, I loved it growing up. It's just a bit different when you do it as an adult/parent. There is so much crap to pack for only going two days! We could barely fit it all in our Yukon. I swear we are going to have to start dragging a trailer along. And honestly, I am not a fan of Christopher Creek. I hate campsites. When I grew up, we would just find a spot to camp. We didn't have to deal with noisy neighbors and dirty freaking bathrooms. I know it's tradition for the Goodman's to go to Christopher Creek, but I dearly hope that this tradition changes some time in the near future. Next year we will have 6 kids, two of them being only 8 months old. I picture a day trip in mind, with out sleeping over. :) All in all, the kids had fun and that's really what it's all about.
