Labor Day Get-A-Way (Part 4 - The Journey Home)

It was a dark and stormy night...but midway through the night the pounding rain ceased. The quiet was only interrupted by the moisture dripping from the tree tops. The storm had finally blown out its furry and had left us in a quiet reprieve. But then we realized that it was the calm before the storm (started again)!

Despite the rain and snow all night long we managed to keep some of our firewood dry. We quickly rekindled a fire before the snow started to fall.

While the snow makes a beautiful landscape it doesn't always work with your morning plans. And everyone was freezing! We had a camp fire but you had to be outside in the snow to feel its warmth. The tent had 4 stove burners and 4 lantern burning but they weren't exactly designed for heating purposes. So blankets and layered clothing were the only options (not that we didn't try using the stoves and laterns for heat)
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Our family was in charge of the breakfast and lunch for this day. Grandma had previously gathered the blue berries from around camp and we used them in the pancakes! They were delicious. And it was nice to have a hot breakfast on such a cold morning.

Our new tent did fantastic through the night.

(but the weight of the snow caused it to collapse, almost burying my boys inside the tent! (no pictures...I was too concerned about rescuing my little family!)

No it was time to head home. The though caused some minor alarm considering the challenge of getting to camp on dry ground. We finished our preparations in the snow and began the slow drive through the mud, rocks, rivers, ravines, and winding mountain trails. Jared drove in front and Kyle drove behind to make sure that my vehicle would survive the excursion down the mountain. It actually wasn't too bad, mostly muddy and wet (no incidences).

For all the cold we went through it was simply amazing to come home to a sunny and warm Provo! Even before we found the pavement the snow had stopped and it was just rain. By the time we made it to Provo Canyon there were blue skys. And the temperature was a balmy 66 (according the the Jones weather station) when we got to our home.

It was truly and experience to remember. When we got home everything was wet. So we pitched camp again in our back yard, living room, kitchen and downstairs play room. It took half the house to dry out the tent, sleeping bags, clothes, chairs, etc. Michelle completed 6 loads of laundry to get our camping clothes clean! And we're finally getting everything put away. What a wonderful way to end our summer.

Labor Day Get-A-Way (Part 3 - Playing With The Petersens)

What do you do when your family gets together? Well here is what we did...


Every camp needs a campfire. Kyle got the fire started first thing in the morning. And, of course, he has many eager and willing little helpers (David, Ammon and Michael)

Next, you need to have light to see in order to fix breakfast. Michael's motto for the camp (and life right now) is "I do it myself!" So Grandpa let Michael help pump the lantern after it had been lit. David and Donovan would have eager helped too if there had been more room around the latern.

Breakfast, on this morning, was breakfast burritos. But what a role reversal! Jared is doing the cooking and Tosha is working the power tools. You have to admit that they make a great team.

Our boys actually did prety good eating breakfast but some encouragement was still required. And my boys had to race to see who would get to sit by Ammon.


What is a Petersen outing without shooting guns. This trip we used about 2 1/2 boxes of .22 ammo so that everyone had plenty of opportunities to shoot. David was first in line but everyone else lined up too (except Tosha and Aleky).

Shooting the guns took some time so by noon everyone decided to take a break and eat lunch. Grandma wanted to make ice cream for dessert and her rule is that "if you want some ice cream you have to take a "TURN." These boys wanted some ice cream!

But once the ice cream is done what do you do with the bucket? Michael discovered the accoustic characteristics of the ice cream bucket.

When lunch had a chance to settle we turned to chopping wood. Jared started it all by trying to create wood for the fire and it spread from there. Everyone needed a chance to swing their axe. Michael and Aaron were a bit small to be trusted with such sharp tools and were given wood-stacking duty instead.

Once the great trees had fallen and been prepared for the fire the boys decided to explore the far reaches of our pond. David was the tour guide and Donovan and Ammon followed along. The rule was that you had to be able to see the tent (or you were too far away) and to stay out of the water (we didn't have the means of drying out multiple pairs of shoes). When David came back from exploring it was too much (everyone tried hard to control their laughter; under the circumstances he should have been in trouble but he fell all the way in the pond, not just his shoes).


After so much excitement all our boys needed a nap. And while the little ones slept the games continued. First came the log chopping contest...(I am so unworthy; Jared the Lumberjack can chop through the tree in 41 seconds, Kyle took a full 48 seconds, even Grandpa could do it in about 75 seconds - at a fatter end of the tree; it took me over 3 minutes!)

After chopping trees down and chopping logs for the fire we decided to start throwing the trees just to see how far they would go. It took several attempts with several styles to determine that the hammer throw style worked the best (a golf swing had good results too). With each changing style the distance increased and now I don't remember who actually had the best overall throw.

After all the throws the log finally broke so a new game was created. There were two circles with a log in the middle. You got 3 points for hitting the log, 2 if your rock stopped inside the smaller circle, 1 point if your rock stopped inside the larger circle and 0 points for everything else. I finally found a game I could win (at least I was winning by 2 points after 3 tosses and then it started to rain putting us into a permanent rain delay).

The boys were not phased by the rain...they just moved the games inside the wall tent. But how do you keep 4 active boys from bouncing of the canvass walls of a tent?

So while the boys went crazy it was time to prepare dinner. And what good is dinner without some yummy dessert? (Smores didn't work because by this point the rain/hail was still falling and the firepit now had a moat of ice water; not so good for active boys to discover. So Grandma whipped up some nice chocolate pudding instead.)

The night came to a close as the rain poured down, alternating with hail. The pond moved about 10 feet closer to the wall tent and there were mud holes everywhere. We even discovered that our tent floor could double as a water bed! Our new tent held up pretty good but the tent doors started to leak under the relentless downpour. We hurried to get our kids in pjs and into their sleeping bags. Once they were bedded down for the night they went right to sleep, all tuckered out from the days activities! As I lay there, sleeping on and off, I listened to the rhythmic sound of the rain, later to turn to snow! But safe in the tent, in my warm sleeping bag, I could enjoy the continuous down pour.

What a full day!

Labor Day Get-A-Way (part 2 - First Day at Camp)

We were excited to finally be at camp. Everyone was there...Grandma, Grandpa, Kyle, Uncle Dan, Aunt Monica, Shilo, Jared, Tosha, Ammon, Aaron, and the Jones Family (Khayyam, Michelle, David, Donovan, Michael and Aleky). Since we were already warmed up we were able to set up camp in no time! Jared and Tosha were able to get settled in quickly as well. Uncle Dan & Aunt Monica had drove up in their truck with the camper shell.

Once everyone was situated we started lunch (that was our first meal and everyone had to wait until we made it to camp to be able to eat). While lunch was being prepared the boys (and that was just about everyone!) went out to play. Kyle and Jared started playing with the axe; they chopped down a couple of dead trees to start the firewood supply pile. The little boys (David, Donovan and Ammon) found great pleasure in playing with the ants they found in the base of the fallen tree.

Aaron seemed content just doing his own thing.

Once the initial euphoria of tree chopping had worn off David found a way to con his Uncle Jared into helping him do a little pistol (.22) shooting. David definitely loves the opportunity to shoot and if there is shooting going on you can bet he is somewhere very close by, just waiting for his turn.

We did have one slight mishap while shooting. Grandpa brought his brand new ultra light weight pistol. And from what I gather (and I'm not expert) it is a pretty nice gun. Unfortunately we didn't get to shoot it very many times (in fact, I never had the opportunity). The gun blew apart! We feel quite lucky that no one was hurt in that accident.

(Jared gets the first shot with Grandpa's new gun)

Aleky did not go unnoticed on this trip even though he rarely complained. His two cousins couldn't get enough of him (I'm sure it has to do with the pending arrival of their next sibling). Even providing a protective sheild wasn't good enough on this trip. Aaron was especially interested in taking care of Aleky and making sure he wasn't neglected.

David was sure busy and going fishing was next on his list of things to do while camping. Ammon also felt the need to fish. So there was a little fishing expedition to Hourglass lake, just before sunset. It turned out to be a successful endeavor as both boys were able to "catch" fish (or at least reel them in). David has now caught 3 fish at Hourglass lake! Not only did these two fishermen catch fish but they insisted on carrying the load together (they made it most of the way before dropping the fish in the dirt).

With such a busy day it was nice to sit back and relax around a campfire.