Mommy-Type Stuff: Hatch Family Campout

This year Brent's sister did a lot of work getting the Hatch Family Campout all planned. Granite Flats Campground in American Fork Canyon was decided on. Talk about one of the most beautiful areas along the Wasatch Range! We joined with their family on Thursday night after work and set up our tent and played with the kids. We had prepped Chico the whole way up about how FUN it will be to SHARE his toys with all the other kids. I think our prepping worked pretty well, he shared better than normal. The kids showed us their fun little hiking trail and told us all about the adventures they'd been having for the day before we got there. Christa made super-yummy tinfoil dinners with Salmon, brown sugar, onions and carrots. Sounds yummy right? Yeah, it was. Y'all should try it sometime. Then I threw together an easy cobbler into our dutch oven and we had that and s'mores for dessert. Grandpa Hatch and Pam came up and arrived at the same time as Steve. The kids had just said a prayer for them to make it safely when we heard Steve's car off in the distance. I love kid's faith. That night we sat around the campfire and the kids told scary ghost stories. It was really adorable to watch C get all scared and for K to be so tough and not get scared at all. Uncle Steve told a pretty scary story too, so I was impressed she wasn't even scared.
Next morning we went hiking up to Silver Lake. It's a 2.2 mile hike up. Brent and I had fun playing with our new water purifier the whole way up. And when we got up there we FINALLY pulled out our camera and began to document this fun family campout.

Our funny cheesy-grinned Chico. :)

Beautiful right? Well we headed back down the mountain which went really well. We made really good time and Chico hiked for a lot of it. He is our little mountain goat! At one point it looked like we might get poured on so Brent scooped up Chico and we started running down the trail. That was so much fun! I love doing that (down hill of course, and it didn't hurt that it was nice and cool at the moment). Well, we didn't get poured on luckily and really enjoyed the hike. Here are more pictures from the hike down the mountain.

The wildflowers on this particular hike were so beautiful! There were SO many of them too. It was fun to see such beautiful colors scattered along the sides of the trail.

I had promised to think of fun ideas to do with the kids on the campout so I looked online and found this cute treasure hunt idea. I thought the oldest girls would love to plan the treasure hunt with me and the rest of the kids could follow the treasure map around the camp until it led them to the hidden treasure. C & K helped me plan out the route they'd take and they also had the cute idea of painting symbols on trees and rocks along the way. Then C drew the corresponding symbols on the map with landmarks and dotted lines so that the kids could follow it and find their treasure! When it came time to do the treasure hunt I left it all up to C & K. They are born leaders and did a great job getting everyone to get excited and organized.

B was the leader on the treasure hunt, I felt bad not including him on the planning but I figured the younger kids would need his help with the treasure map. I think he liked leading out, I don't know for sure, I was busy dealing with a grumpy child of mine.

The kids had fun finding the different symbols painted along the way (btw, it was very washable paint for any of you worried that we were defacing nature).

When we got to the X part of the map the boys started searching all over and then N started digging in the dirt because he thought the treasure was buried. Isn't that adorable!?

We gave them some hints and N ultimately found the hidden bag of treasure! The girls took charge again and Brent got pictures of it and it's cute to see them telling the boys what to do and where to stand to claim their treasure. They are really great leaders in their family. :)

Here is the map that C created.

After the treasure hunt was over Brent and I cooked our chicken that had been marinading for a day or so. I should post that recipe. I will soon, its' so yummy!

I don't think this dinosaur left Chico's hand from the time of the treasure hunt until we lost it at church a couple days later (we found it this week though, phew!). He LOVED it and it really helped cheer up his grumpiness. N and Chico played really well together, I'm glad Chico has a cousin his same age!

I really like this pictures of Brent. How can one look so dang good while camping!?

Chico's Big Wheel was a big hit with the kids, especially L. He's still small enough to fit in it somewhat comfortably but old enough to be coordinated enough to drive it well!