Lee Vining Camping

We just got back from camping with the Austin's for 4 days. We went to Lee Vining which is close to Yosemite. We took our trailer and it took about 7 hours to get there. The kids did great in the car with books, toys, hand held games, movies to watch and snacks to eat. Throughout all the driving, no one even got car sick. Where we camped we were surrounded by lots of trees and tall grass. There was also a river about 40 feet away from our site. The kids enjoyed exploring the surroundings, fishing in the river (a big highlight!!), playing games, riding bikes and all the other fun stuff that comes with camping. The only thing that was not fun about our trip which I am sure everyone would agree with was the mosquito's! I have never seen so many mosquito's before in my life! We had to spray our bodies down the minute we stepped out of the trailer in the mornings and then reapply it throughout day. I will not miss spraying my kids down with mosquito repellent daily. We did try to get a little less toxic bug spray. I recommend the brand Repel. It was made from Lemon and Eucalyptus and contained NO DEET but smelled horrendous. None of the kids got one mosquito bite, thank goodness, but the bugs still enjoyed to have a little snack on us adults. I think Bryan got bit the worse. He probably had about 60 bites, Greg said he had 39, Amy had some and I got only about 6 the entire time. Other than the mosquitoes we all had a great time together.


Some highlights from our trip were:

1. Mosquito's, of course!

2. Fishing

3. Kids falling in the river (all of them)

4. Visiting the Bodie Ghost town

5. Going to Mono Lake, seeing the tufa's and all the black flies on the water

6. Seeing the top of a volcano

7. Watching a robin feed her babies at camp.

8. Lauren dislocating her elbow (she put it back in place herself, 3rd time now)

9. Blake throwing up in our bed after eating too much junk the last night.

10. Carley getting a hook in her finger (thanks to me)

11. Myself ripping off my jacket after carrying around a big gigantic hissing beetle in my hood.

12. Playing with fire. We almost set the forest on fire numerous times thanks to Blake with his sticks and paper towels, Greg and Bryan with their lighter fluid (trying to see how high of a fire they could make and setting the rocks around the fire pit on fire) and the paper towels on the table caught on fire from our citronella candle.

13. Seeing a strange light in the sky. UFO?!?

14. Sitting around the camp fire in the evenings, making smores, eating brownies after the kids went to bed and getting scared with the noises around us.


One more thing....
One of the weirdest things that happened this trip was when we noticed Bryan's truck clock had jumped ahead two hours exactly, my cell phone changed two hours ahead, exactly, and stayed there until after we left the area Sunday and Greg's analog watch he was wearing was exactly one hour behind. All of this happened after we saw the "UFO." Can anyone explain this?


Here are some pictures of our fun time this weekend. Be prepared there is a lot!

Blake and Delaney made their own fishing pole with a stick, fishing line and a cricket tied to the end.

Blake on his way out to go fishing in the river. He left us back at camp and actually baited his hook with a cricket and caught a fish with no one else around or helping him.

Blake and Bryan fishing

One of the trout Blake caught in the river.

Amanda's trout she caught

This was the aftermath of Carley getting a fish hook stuck in her finger. I wish I had a picture of the actual hook in her finger because you wouldn't believe how far one of the barbs of the treble hook was in. Let's just say it went in as far as it could go. All of this was because I was fishing in a small area with trees all around and the girls were right by me. The next thing I knew I heard someone say "ow" and I looked up and Carley was pulling on the string with the hook in her finger. Bryan and I both yelled, "don't pull" but it was too late. Greg was going to pull it out but decided Bryan was a better person for the job. So Bryan took the hook out like he would a fish. It was quick and Carley was so brave!

Bodie Ghost Town

The kids in one of the old cars.

Amy and the girls in front of an old house in Bodie.

Mono Lake

Mono Lake showing some of the tufas. Tufa's are calcium carbonate towers formed by springs and minerals and start growing under water. This lake has high salt content as well as alkaline. It is two and a half times saltier than the ocean therefore, making you float. You can't sink!

The dads and kids in front of the tufa's.

The kids looking at the brine shrimp and flies in the water.

It was a hot day at the lake. Notice the matching hats on the older kids and the younger kids. This wasn't planned.

Lauren posing.

Around the campfire roasting marshmallows.

This is what Lauren looked like every day. She could not stay clean.

Coloring and stickers at the table.

They had the coolest and largest blue birds I have ever seen.

One of the baby robins peeking his head out to rest in the sun.

We loved watching the momma robin feed her babies.

She had her eye on me as I was taking her picture. See the babies. They were sooo cute.