Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Father's Day Camping


Ian and I went camping in Flagstaff this weekend for Father's day. It was his first campout. Connor is still a little too young to go and Linda does not like camping. They hung out at home and apparently went shopping at Target and stayed up late watching "Cars". I am hoping to get the whole family to go camping next summer. (hint hint)

Ian had a ball. He gave a running play by play and didn't stop talking until he went to sleep.

Here he is helping out with dinner, opening a can of Spaghettios, which was pretty much all he wanted to eat this weekend.

Some of his running banter -
"We are CAMPING!"
"I love the tent."
"Smores are good!"
"Daddy, can I tell you something... I love camping!"

Ian has gotten handy with the camera and took this picture of me cooking. I haven't been camping in 17 years and had a lot of fun too. I set up the way too large 8 person tent myself and got the fire going in only two tries!


Ian loved the tent. It was a spaceship, cave, AT AT Walker, and then a cave again.





On Sunday we went to the Lava Tube Cave. This is a pretty cool spot to visit if you are in Flagstaff. There is a bit of a climb down some rocks at first, but then it levels out and is 0.7 of a mile to the end. It is straight in and back so you can't get lost.
I explained to Ian how the lava tube was formed and then he explained it back to me the entire hike. He didn't stop talking for two hours straight. I take that as a sign that he really liked the cave. Here is a direct quote I got on video from him.

"Sooo... when a voltano has hot lava inside it's just called a voltano, but when the lava is dried up, it's called a lava tube."

Ian climbed the whole thing himself, refusing all offers of help from Daddy.

"Daddee, I am doing it myself. I am five!"

Climbing back out of the cave. Ian overheard another family that was heading down ask how long the cave was.
Ian - "It's 7 MILES!"
Other dad guy - "Really?" Wow that's far."
Me - "Yeah it's only .7 of a mile."
Other dad guy - "Oh."
Ian - "It took us forever!"



Climbing a tree after the cave. This is a little blurry because I was using the zoom.

Ian helping pack up the campsite on Monday morning.

Our hike in Sandy's Canyon.

We had a great time and were really tired when we got home Monday night. I posted some other pictures on facebook so feel free to check them out too.



Sandy's Canyon, Flagstaff AZ

Hi Everybody. Three months are up and I am ready to do another post!

I really like taking pictures with the same background years apart. It is interesting to see how we have changed over the years. Here are three pictures of Ian at Sandy's Canyon in Flagstaff, AZ.

July 2004. Ian is just a few months old. When Linda first sent out this picture, she named it "Ian's First Hike - note the ominous clouds."



May 14, 2006. Kind of a neat shot of Ian. He just turned two years old and loved this trail.


June 22, 2009. (just yesterday) Ian and I went camping for Father's Day. I will add another post about our trip.