Camping at Keyhole Canyon

(FYI - this is not Kelly writing - it's Rinar, the awesome behind the scenes husband).  For the past 5 or 6 weeks, Raef and Zach have asked me to take them camping.  We went this weekend as a "boys weekend getaway" and gave mom some much needed "away from the boys" time.  She had Harry and Julia so it wasn't completely child-free, but from the sound of it, we made her day. Here are some of the highlights and "play by play" details of our trip:

Heading off, we all piled in and posed for the "I'm SOOO excited to go CAMPING!!" picture.  Eli would just salute from the back seat every time I said "smile for the camera".  Carry on people!

We arrived at our campsite as the sun was setting.  What a beautiful sight it was.

Their faces tell it all.  Did I tell you yet that they were excited to go camping?

The campsite.  As you can see, our tent was tucked away between two large rocks.  The kids loved climbing up the side walls and sliding down.  We cooked hotdogs and marshmallows on the open fire (the kids dreams came true).

After a full day they all fell asleep pretty quick and slept through the night (my dreams came true).

In the morning we started to explore.  Zach saw this hillside and repeatedly asked us if we could see the bird on the mountain.  I didn't see any birds and looked for awhile.  He finally said "Are you kidding me?  You mean to tell me you can't see the bird moving all over up there on the mountain?"  Take a close look at the top center of this picture.  That was his bird... okay, give him a break, he didn't have his glasses on, but it sure was funny.

Raef wanted to get in a good picture of the petroglyphs.  They were all over the place.  The one on the top right of this picture Raef said was the Utes from Utah.  Kinda looks like it doesn't it?

Climbing a hill is fun to do, fun to do, to do to do... but I wouldn't recommend doing it with a 2 year old.  We decided to climb this hill - the rock slide - and what would probably have taken 15-20 minutes took a full hour and a half.  Yes - I carried Eli in my arms the whole way up and down.  Each time I would stumble a little bit Eli would say in a very sweet voice, "You okay? You okay?"  It was really cute.  Then about half way down Zach looked to the bottom and said "Dad, hell has got to be a lot farther down than this."  Yes Zach... you're right.

After making it to the top we took in the sights.  It was worth the hike and also worth the few Zachism's we got along the way.  His next came just after this picture was taken..."Dad, I can't believe I just risked my life just to see something beautiful."

One shot all together at the top.

After a long hike, the boys just wanted to keep on exploring.  This place called Keyhole Canyon turned out to be a well kept secret.  Only 40 minutes from my house and everything we could ask for in a boys weekend getaway.

Raef also had a good one liner... "Dad, I see a pumpkin out there!!  Seriously... see - check it out."  In fact, he pointed out one cactus after another that in fact were small and round and had orange and red blossoms (looked a little bit like a pumpkin I guess).  

As you can see we had a great time and don't just take my word for it, the last quote I'll share came from both Raef and Zach while sitting around the campfire - "Dad, this is the best day of my life."  I guess this trip wasn't just for mom to have some time away from the boys but for dad to have some top notch quality time with them as well.  Doesn't that just melt your heart?!  It sure melted mine.

Rinar