Labor Day Weekend

Look out! It's the crazy net headed bush children!

Labor day weekend found the West Side TeNgaio's amongst the masses at Heise Campground. Good ol' Heise – you gotta love it. Our original plan was to make the 5 hour drive down to Maple Canyon, Utah to hook up with my friend Troy and his commrades for a weekend of camping, climbing, hiking and other wacky outdoor pursuits. But alas, the weather forecast changed our plans and we whimped-out and opted for Heise. We had already told the kids that we were going camping that weekend and there's no way we could of backed out of it – so Heise it was.

On Saturday we hiked a little ways up Blacks Canyon at the end of the river road along the south fork of the Snake River. This stretch of river is world class. I don't fish, (but love to eat them!), but it's easy to see why fisherpeople love this section of the Snake – it is truly world class and b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l, especially in the fall, (think many, many cottonwood trees and quaking aspens that turn gold). The hike was mellow yet good for the kids. Madi took her standard 1-2 good spills trying to navigate the rocks on the trail and Ethan kept his quota on how fast he can get his shoes muddy wet plus almost poke Madeline's eye out with a stick. Kids, you gotta love 'em. Oh, and Izzy did her part in rolling in dried cow dung and then gettig all nasty wet and muddy in the creek. At least she went in the water AFTER the poop rolling.

That evening as we sat around the campfire, a boy from a few tents down decided that we were his new friends and hung out with us all night. He and Ethan had fun with hot burn-the-side-your-face sticks. Madi kept up with them for a bit then decided it was bed time – she had enough of their mayhem.

Sunday morning we headed to Heise Rock for some climbing. Ethan was totally stoked to climb outside – and it showed. He did two runs up the wall and almost got to the top on his second turn, which is pretty impressive due to the fact that he's about 4' and the cliff is about 50' – that's pretty damn big for a 5 year old. Brittany took a turn and did good too. She hasn't climbed in a few years but she made it up most of the way. I'm still working on convincing her that climbing is fun, not scary. Madi hung out at the base of the cliff with a group of neighboring camping kids. I overheard one saying to his buddy that "my dad would never do this, he's too scared", and "ah man, that kid is good!" They were all impressed with Ethan making it up so far. Pretty cool for him, I could tell.

All in all it was a good, relaxing camp weekend that everyone enjoyed – even the dog.