On Saturday morning, Brad and Melody, Mahayla and Brea came to spend the weekend at Manzanita with us! We all met up at our home in Provo, packed our vehicles with a little bit of everything, and we headed off for our new adventure. We were so stoked that we were going to have more visitors. We love Bryce Woodlands and we are always excited to share it with others.
After the nightmare last weekend, we decided to take the four wheelers down, first of all so we would never be stranded again, and 2nd of all, to have a little fun when the kids came down. Jim called the loading of the four wheelers, :"an epic event". The Honda four wheeler was in the back end of the pick up and the Yamaha was on the trailer. We left the Honda at the cabin site and brought the Yamaha back with us...
The women folk were all in my van, and the menfolk, (Brad and Jim) were in the pick up. We went to the gas station to fill both vehicles up with gas and check tire pressure, because that is just something we have to do (at least that's what Jim thinks) before we hit the open road. Jim fills the vehicles up, and then asks me to pull through the pumps and over to the air station. I park in front of the air hose and Jim asks me to pull forward just a little bit, and then get out of my vehicle. I pull forward just a couple of inches and then get out, and Jim shows me this big freakin' bolt sticking out of my front driver's tire... I was like.. what? This is the third flat that I would have had in this vehicle in one week... grrrr...
So, the boy's head off to the cabin site, and the "girl's van" heads to Discount Tire in Orem, Utah to get the bolt out of the tire... The thing was huge... wasn't any little nail sticking out, but a big freakin' bolt.
We get to the tire store, and they tell us that it's going to take about 30 minutes, but it's going to be free because we do business with them regularly.. The girls and I walk over to Sunflower Produce which is really close, and wander around. We buy exciting stuff like a coconut, and flax muffins..Jim says he hopes there isn't three more of these muffins somewhere... wasn't one of his favourites...
In about 30 minutes, the tire is fixed and we head down the road.
It takes about 3.5 hours to make it to the cabin site... the girls in the back seat were asleep for part of it, and Melody and I chat the whole time. Every once in a while, Brea would wake up and ask how much longer, and our stock reply was, "6 more minutes". That seemed to appease her.
We made a quick pit stop at the Panguitch General store and as soon as I walked in, Cheryl Church from the Blue Pine Motel was there.... Cheryl is Danny G's sister and lives in Panguitch. She came up to me and hugged me and said that she was glad that I came back... I think after the nightmare last week, people are amazed that we have gone back. But, this time, it was different. We came really well prepared.
When we got to the site, we found that it had been pouring rain all night, and we had about a foot of mud.. everywhere... and I mean, everywhere...Jim says there was only about 2 inches, but I disagree... There was so much mud, and it was really quite cool temperature wise, that the kids couldn't put their tent up, so we all decided that we would all sleep in the RV...
The RV has a Bird's Nest above the cab for kids to sleep in, and the table in the little dining room pushes down, and the cushions make a bed, so we felt we were in good shape. The girls were going to sleep in the Bird's Nest, and Brad and Melody would sleep in the bed... Ended up, that Brad slept with the girls and it worked out perfectly. We ran the generator to run the heater, so it was toasty warm in no time.
As soon as we got to the site, we started dinner. We used cans to stand chickens up in the BBQ for a couple of hours, along with potatoes wrapped in foil.. I figured it would take a couple of hours to cook, so as we were unpacking and getting settled, dinner would be cooking.
While the girls were unpacking, the guys were taking the four wheelers off the trailer and getting them ready for the next day. They also set up the the fire pit, so we could have smores before bed.
While we were waiting for the food to cook, Mahayla and Brea had their first activity - spiders in a bottle! I bought some plastic flower vases, and we stuffed them with cotton balls, and then put plastic spiders in the vases.. and then put a glow stick in the middle of the cotton balls.. and, in the dark, it looks like spiders in webs...I also bought lizards to put in the vases and the girls thought it was amazing...
Dinner was fantastic... we cooked corn in the RV and put a salad with it, and it was perfect... Everybody was happy.. A little while afterwards, we sat by the fire pit and made smores and just relaxed.... I forgot to bring the bag of graham crackers into the RV before we went to bed, and in the morning, some little critter had made a meal out of half of them... little nibble marks all over the tops... giggle..
When we were going to bed, everyone realized how freakin' small the bathroom is...I am not one to complain or to tell everyone that I don't fit in the bathroom... but, this is really a fact.. I don't fit.. In fact, nobody fits into this bathroom. I always say that you have to go outside to change your mind, and Brad and Melody now have first hand knowledge of this... That bathroom is small... really small... Jim says he is going to pull the cupboard out, to give us a little more space... Can't be soon enough...
Got up in the morning - everyone said they slept reasonably well... Had a big breakfast of french toast and bacon, and fried potato and fruit... It was nice to see the boys just relax and talk and not be texting or answering phones...
The first thing the kids wanted to do was ride the four wheelers.. So Jim and Brad pulled them out and they went off to explore the surroundings. Mahayla and Brea said they saw deer and a wild turkey, and chipmunks! They had a great time!
After Melody and I got dishes cleaned up on our makeshift sink, that was situated on the top of the
generator, we made stepping stones with the girls... I have been collecting shells and stones, and beads and everything else for months for this stepping stone project..... They got them all arranged in the plastic containers and Papa mixed the cement... I think we made the cement a little loose because all our fun shells and marbles floated... Papa and I are going to have a redo on this one.. shhhhh... we want them to look pretty for the girls, so we are going to be working on this one...I was wearing rubber gloves for this activity.... took off one glove and it had torn and my nails were filled with cement... Needless to say, I have an appointment with my nail tech this afternoon.. Brianne came into my office this morning, and saw my nails and all she said was.."Oooooh.."... They look really bad...
After breakfast, the little girls decided that it was time to crack open the coconut, and Brad was happy to oblige. He christened the backhoe by cracking open the coconut on the side of it.... The girls loved the coconut, and now the backhoe was properly christened.
After the first and second four wheeler drives, Jim and Brad decided to get the backhoe out and do some digging... I don't know what it is with men and heavy equipment.. I just don't get what the big thrill is... But, Jim showed Brad how the backhoe worked, and then let him dig.. I think he had a blast... We are going to get a 40' container to store building materials in, so we needed to flatten a space of ground for the container to sit on..
Jim was thrilled that Brad was interested in running the backhoe and said that he learned quickly, and did a great job... I think Jim enjoyed teaching Brad as much as Brad enjoyed doing the work.
Here's the hole that Brad dug!! He rocks!
On the last four wheeler ride of the day, the girls wanted one of the spiders to take a ride also....
We had planned to get out of the site by about four in the afternoon... didn't quite happen, but we couldn't leave, without a quick treat, so we all headed to the Gem Theater for ice cream...Autumn, our favourite waitress was there, and was sweet as ever. She met the whole gang, so we are expanding horizons... They usually serve funeral potatoes at the Gem Theater/Cafe, but yesterday, they were all out... Sad face. But, as we are sitting there eating our ice cream, the couple that own the Hitch 'n Post RV park came in, and they got to meet the fam also! I don't know their names, but nice people...
Really was a great weekend - had so much fun, solid relax time, and we'd love to have guests again...
Again, another grand adventure.
Jim and Cheri
