The Elk Hunt

We had a great visit from Nick's parents this month. Nick had an elk tag and his father came down for the hunt. His Mom and the kids and I joined them for a couple of days of camping up by Green's Peak. Here is what we did:

Who knew that canoeing in the grass was just as much fun as the real thing?? Not me! But these two figured it out.

To bring a touch of civilization to the elk hunt, we brought along a croquet set.

Check out this cool tree that was near our campsite! Someone had taken a chainsaw to it, cut a front door and window and hollowed out the inside! It was a magical little house for the kids to play in.

Myla inside the tree - she thinks its Fab-U-Lous!

Peek-a-boo!

There were little horny toads running around and Myla declared this one her new best friend! She was pretty sad when its Mommy called it home for dinner and she couldn't play with it anymore. We had to have several horny toad hunts to find a replacement friend for her.
Sweet Gavan gently holding the toad

My huntin' husband :)

Myla would NOT stop frowning when we were trying to take her picture with Papa. So what do you do with a frown?

You turn it upside down!!

It worked :)

All of us.

It was a lot of fun - and it was SO COOL up there! We were grateful for our jackets, that's for sure.

Also, throughout the whole area, there were lots of cows grazing. Occasionally, they would make their way into the field near our campsite. At one point, before us lady-folk arrived, the guys had to chase them away from the camp and one calf ran into the quad that someone was riding and got knocked down. Oops!

Anyways, one of the days we were up there with the kids, the cows were out in the field. Here is a pic of the field: I didn't have the camera when the cows were there so all I could do was photograph the field.

Why am I showing you a picture of a field that looks like a lot of the landscape in northern AZ?

Because, this field, filled with cows, inspired a strange story from my 3 1/2 year old daughter.

We were having a lot of imaginative play around the campsite - Myla wanted to be called "Curly" and she had a dog named Curly and a cat named Curly and she lived in a pink and purple house. Well, at one point, "Curly" had to warn me to not go into the "Grinscot"

"What's the Grinscot?", I asked.

She pointed to the field full of grazing cattle, pictured above.

"Why can't I go into the Grinscot?", I asked.

"Because", Curly said gravely, "My family went there and got hurt and their blood and bones are all eaten up!!"
"Really", I said, not really knowing what to else to say to that.

Anyways, that was just graphic and outta left-field. I guess the cows and camping somehow got to Myla!

I haven't heard anymore gruesome stories since we've been home, thankfully!

On our last night up there, we sat around the campfire listening to the elk. Nick had his calls so he would bugle (I think that's what its called) and the elk would call back. Gavan - my little almost-two-year-old, would imitate the sound - and he did pretty darn good!!

Unbelievably, this was our first family campout of the, um, summer? Is it still summer since its still over 100 degrees?? It was very nice to get outdoors - the kids LOVED it, we took about a million rides on the quad with them. It was great! Now I remember why we bought our camper! We just need more time to use it :)