Day camping

The weather didn't cooperate this Memorial Day weekend- gray skies, random showers, and very cool temperatures. But after seeing all the campers in the forest we decided that we  needed to take part, for at least a few hours. 

And so the tradition of day camping continues, complete with a daytime campfire and marshmallows. 

Under the stars

Despite a little guy with the sniffles, we used the long weekend, last weekend, to get out into the woods for a long overdue night under the stars. The littlest one has never been camping. Our family trip this June was thwarted by roseola  (did we ever talk about that??) and only Mr. Bejos and the eldest ended up on that planned outing.

It's strange to think that just a few short years ago I logged double digits under the stars each season. It was easier of course to accomplish when my job duties required a handful of those nights, but still....double digits. I imagine our logged nights out will increase over the years, but I am logging in this season with 1.

 

It was fun to have nothing to do except chase these two around, even that unsteady little guy, and snap endless pictures of their adorable faces. The best part may have been the trip home. Although it looks like we are in the middle of nowhere we were actually quite close to home. So close that the oldest Bejos boy biked (as I kept pace beside him) the trails home. It wasn't too long of a trip but the extra Skittles in his pocket did help put a little gas in his engine.

Reboot

Mr. bejos and I hit the trail recently for the first backpacking trip that we have been on since bejos boy came into our lives. Thank you mama and papa bejos!! After much debating we finally settled on a trail. We knew we wanted a not-to-long trail, water, and warmer weather to avoid the situation we had last time we tented. Have you noticed the patterns of decision making difficulties that we have endured around these parts recently...jees, make up your mind already bejos clan.

It started out a very hot and dry hike, but we knew that there was water just a mere 4 miles down the trail. 

And the oasis below made it well worth the trip.

A good dose of dis-connecting, sweating in the desert heat, and swimming in the hidden gems of Arizona wilderness make mr. and mrs. bejos happy people.

Rules of the Desert

The first rule of the desert is "don't touch anything!"
Way too many pokey and venemous things out there.
Apparently this mountain dwelling bejos clan has been away from the desert too long.

While mr. bejos and I were setting up the new tent for our previous blogged about winter camping adventure, we set baby bejos up with a bag full of toys to keep him occupied.

 

We had an eye and ear on him, listing to his "choo-choos" and "beep, beeps" and occasional "uh ohs" and "oh nos". He was quite entertained by a rather large stump and then a big clod of dirt. Suddenly we realized there were a few too many "oh nos" and a strange obsession with one particular clod of earth. 

Upon closer inspection it turned out that the large clod of earth baby bejos was playing with was in fact a burrow. A burrow that baby bejos had driven his little toy car right into. Uh oh! We could not reach the little car let alone see it. My baby boy had been reaching far into this, thankfully, abandoned burrow. Eek!

Later that evening, while baby bejos slept, mr bejos bravely recovered the car by caving in the burrow with a stick and digging out the cheap toy. Love, true love.

Winter Camping

 

Weathermen were not our friends on this leg of our rambling roadtrip. The projected weather was for very warm days and pretty warm nights...high 40s, even into the 50s.  Fine, we thought. Load up the new tent (thanks mama & papa bejos!) and we'll re-live our younger days of AZ winter desert camping.
Not so much. It was a damn cold night on the banks of the Salt River. As bundled as we were, especially baby bejos, we could feel the cold. It didn't help that baby bejos was restless and prompted us grown-ups to rise from our warm sleeping bags to check on him. It was our only camping night of the trip.
Maybe another year.
*sigh*