The FINAL Melser Family (real camping) Campout

We had our annual Melser Family Campout at the Bonita Campground just out of Flagstaff, AZ at Sunset Crater. We left Thursday (5/28) around lunchtime with a plan to stop and deliver some brownies to some of Chuck's dental offices in Flagstaff.

As we headed into the mountains, it started raining on us... it was BEAUTIFUL. I love the rain! My only hope was that it wouldn't be raining when we needed to set-up camp.

We made it to our campsite and got things set-up. While we were setting up, Chuck worked on grilling some yummy steak for dinner.

We got settled for the night... not sleeping too comfortably... you know, not my own bed and a 4-yr-old joining you in your sleeping bag makes for not the best sleep! But we survived and were awake at 4:45am (not my idea... I promise!). Finally got out of the tent around 5:30 and joined others by the fire. Sorry women... this guy below is taken! I know, he's hard to resist!

The kids had fun gathering rocks and just running free playing around. This is the first year in about 10 years that I really enjoyed camping because I didn't have a baby or a toddler that I had to keep a constant watch on. It was way super nice to just relax and let them play! Macee and Lucy had fun making what they called their "centerpiece". They had a great time playing together at the campout. Their relationship is a funny one... it's a love/hate relationship... watch out when they aren't getting along! But they did really good up here!

Our planned activity for this day (Friday 5/29) was to go to Sunset Crater and Wupatki Indian Ruins and see the sites at these locations. We first went to Sunset Crater. The picture below is everyone looking out at the lava flow. It was really neat to see.

Pictured below (left to right)

Back row:Rachel, Isaiah, Sarabeth, Tyler and Maddy

Front row: Ali, Macee, Lucy and Hana

Chuck and Macee in a knotty tree we found along the hiking path at Sunset Crater.

A view of the volcano.

This below is called a spatter cone. It is a little mini volcano that just erupts out of the ground.

After hiking around Sunset Crater, we were going to have a picnic, but smart KaraLyn forgot the paper goods and so we decided to head back into camp and eat and let the tired kids rest up a bit. It was a good plan. So after a bit, we went to see the Wupatki Indian Ruins. We walked down the path and stopped at all the numbers and read a little about what we were looking at. I think the kids really enjoyed this!

Here is the main "apartment".

The circular area pictured here was where they held community events and different ceremonies.

The kids sitting on a ledge with the "ballfield" in the background.

Maddy, Tyler, Hana, Isaiah, Rachel, Macee, Ali and Lucy

The kids surrounding the blowhole. It was so windy you had to stick your hand down in the hole to even feel the wind coming up. I remember when I was younger this was really nice to put your face above when it was really warm outside.

Tyler posing at a view of the ruin. (I know, the picture is a little lopsided...)

A group shot in the Visitors Center

Back row: Macee, Chuck, me (KaraLyn), Lucy, Katie

Middle row: Tyler, Isaiah, Maddy, Traci

Front row: Ali

Maddy was trying to get her hood on and this is what happened... I thought it was funny, so I took a picture!

Little Kelly with her monkey buddy (her harness). She loves to wear it around.

Since I didn't want another uncomfortable night with a 4-yr-old sleeping with me, Chuck gave up his cot and we stuck both girls in one sleeping bag together and they slept very good this night. Chuck and I put our bags together and I slept much warmer as well!

Chuck and I were in charge of Saturday (5/30) morning breakfast. We decided to make breakfast burritos. Tyler took this picture of us cooking. I have a bit of smoke covering my eyes.

After breakfast we loaded everyone in 3 cars (our Suburban, a 10 passenger van and a 7 passenger van) and we took off for the Grand Canyon. Our first stop was Desert View Tower. We walked to the top and looked out over the Canyon and then had to pose by the chimney thing that I remember posing by as a kid. I just took a picture of whoever was around.

A picture of the Canyon.

Macee was being a stinker, but Tyler and Maddy wanted a picture here.

A picture of the Desert View Tower. Mom Melser told us that some of our ancestors helped build this.

After this stop, we decided it was lunchtime so, we found a picnic area to eat lunch at and no sooner did we start making lunch, it started sprinkling! Then we were ready to explore, it was raining quite heavily. So we ran to the bus stop (it took a few different tries, but we finally found the right one while running through the rain). We took the bus to the train depot and got off and hung out at the El Tobar hotel lobby/giftshop while we waited for the rain to pass.

Little Macee was a bit upset it was raining on her!

The rain started slowing down, so we headed over to Vercamps and they had a Ranger Talk going on, so we stopped and let the kids listen to it. It was on Mules. Very interesting... at least the parts I heard.

After that, the buses were up and running again to go up to Hermits Rest, so we walked to the bus stop and took a ride on up. I got this picture on the way up.

A view from Hermits Rest.

My Family!

Mom and Dad Melser! Thanks for letting me take your picture!

After Hermits Rest, it was time to head back to camp. As we were driving back, it started raining on us. We were a bit concerned about it being cold and wet back at camp, but when we got back, it was just sprinkling a bit and so we put up tarps inside the big gazebo (as Chuck calls it... most of us refer to it as a canopy, but Chuck doesn't like to share, nor share others can-o-py.. heehee). Dinner went well that night (yummy chili to warm our bellies) and we took off to bed a bit earlier than I wanted to, but it was quite cold and we had tired kids... oh- and I was exhausted!

On Sunday (5/31) we woke-up and started tearing down camp (out of fear of more rain that could possibly head in) and ate breakfast and continued to tear-down camp. As we were packing up, I started to see the rain clouds heading in, so all while praying it wouldn't rain, we moved a bit faster and we were able to get all of camp torn down before it rained. The kids just hung around and came running when we needed their help.

Pictured below: the 2005 babies

Ali, Macee and Lucy (Breana unable to make it to the campout)

On our way out of camp, we pulled over to take a picture of the San Francisco Peaks with some fresh snow on top of them. They had some when we came in, but got more from the storm on Saturday.

We stopped at a quaint little resturaunt, called Kachina (located on Rt. 66) in Flagstaff for lunch. Although the kids had lunch at camp before we left, I knew I wanted to go here on our way home, so Chuck and I didn't eat lunch. The kids didn't really eat much, but we had fun just being us!

We were hoping Macee would fall asleep on the way to one last stop, just so she might be a bit happy... luckily she did! I love having a Suburban. We can stick all the kids in the backseat and not have them right behind our heads! So nice!

We stopped at Montezuma's Castle on the way home. Inside the visitor's center, there was a cut out of Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (as my kids know... he's from Night at the Museum), and Macee asked to have her picture taken with him. So I said "sure!" all while laughing! (Macee just walked in and saw what I was doing and said, "Mom, that's me and him. We're so cool!")

Here is Montezuma's Castle.

Thanks for posing kids! It was quite warm as we were walking around!

Me and my Chuck! Thanks for making this an awesome trip!

The kids by an Arizona Sycamore tree. Notice it has white bark? I can't remember why, but I could probably make up something good!

That's how were feeling towards the end of this weekend... a bit tuckered out!

Why a picture of a semi? Well, let me tell you about the end of this nice trip and why Chuck's hands hurt by the time we got home. (story below)

So as we were driving home, there were quite a few semi's out on the road. We would pull over in the left lane to pass when we needed to and move back over when we were done. So there was a point at which we were passing a semi (I remember it was blue) and we were right next to it. While we were there, it turned on it's signal, wanting to change lanes into ours. Chuck was trying to get in front of it so it could change lanes and as we got up almost be in front of it, I looked in at the driver (this semi earlier was not driving so good, swerving around and I looked in at him then as well, noticing he was on his cell phone) and just as I looked, he grabbed his rope for his horn and honked at us... RUDE!!! He doesn't rule the road, we were trying to move just as fast as we could to get out of his way! So we got past him and moved on. The next semi we saw was riding the middle line fairly tight... scary (I hate driving beside a semi... you know, they could CRUSH us) and I looked at the driver, and he looked down at me and he was scary looking! But we got past him. Then the next semi (we decided the driver was conversing with blue-semi dude on the radio) was in the right lane and changed lanes right in front of us, making Chuck have to hurry and change into the lane they were just in. He had plenty of time before we even got close to him to change lanes, but decided to do it right in front of us. I thought that was very dangerous. I'm grateful I have a husband who pays attention to the road and those driving around us. Thanks for keeping us safe on the road babe!

So, we made it home safe after a great weekend away. I love camping and the outdoors and especially cooler weather!

Now, are you wondering about the title? This is the last Annual Melser Family Campout that we will be actually having in a campsite. It was decided previous to this campout that we were changing it to every other year, but then after this campout, mom and dad decided this is not their idea of fun, so we are looking at going to a cabin or something in 2011.