The Smith Symphony: Opus 318

We had our Camacho Family Reunion a few weeks ago. We went up to Logan Canyon and camped on my sister-in-law's family property. There was a small cabin there with a kitchen and bathroom, but nobody slept in the cabin - almost everybody camped. As I've talked about in earlier posts, I knew in advance that it would be a stressful 5 days camping with 2 year old twins, so you would think that that prior knowledge would have made the stress a little easier, but alas, it was not.

I was really looking forward to spending time with my parents and siblings, but it turned out to be fairly difficult to spend as much time as I would have liked with them. However, there were some good moments when the kids were happily playing and we actually got to do things with others.

Joshua had the hardest time falling asleep each night. It was just so difficult for him to have so much space to move around in. It's a little ironic - he sleeps better when he's in his crib, but he absolutely hates being confined in a pack-n-play. I guess the crib is just the right amount of space for him. Despite being thoroughly exhausted, it took Joshua at least 1-2 hours to fall asleep each night. Naturally, he freaked if I tried to sneak out, so I spent most nights in the tent helping Joshua fall asleep. That part was difficult for me because, as anyone who has done much camping knows, the best conversations/bonding happens around the campfire at night. Unfortunately, I had to miss most of that time, causing me to feel pretty left out.

Nap time was mostly nonexistent for the kids. They both got a little sleep whenever we'd take them someplace in the car, but it was extremely hard for them to take a nap in the tent. I can't blame them - our tent wasn't exactly the ideal place for napping. Although it was right next to the trees, it was in the sun in the afternoon and the screens were up high, so if there was a breeze it never got down to the floor where the kids' sleeping bags were, making the tent a sauna. In addition, it wasn't close to the area that everybody spent most of their time - since the kids were already uncomfortable with their sleeping situation, napping so far away from Mama and Daddy was not something they wanted to do. However, we did manage to get them to take a very short nap on Saturday (we had to stay in there with them) and a little longer nap on Sunday (it was much cooler so the tent wasn't as hot). We actually managed to sneak out during that nap, but when I went back to got them they were throwing things all over the tent.

Although they had difficulties with their lack of sleep, Lissa and Joshua did have some great times playing in the sandbox, swinging on the swing set, playing with Uncle Steve's water table, and playing ball with Uncle John (even though poor little Joshua heard so much, "Joshua don't do that." - he gets mean when he's tired and he was tired a lot). Joshua LOVED playing ball with Uncle John. I was excited for those two to get together because Joshua reminds me of John so much. I'm glad that they were able to get a good amount of time playing together. Joshua still talks about playing ball with Uncle John. Both kids really enjoyed spending time with Aunt Lissa too. After the reunion was over, the kids and I were talking about everything they did when Lissa said, "I love Aunt Lissa." So cute.

One night we watched a slide show that I put together with pictures of everyone growing up. I'd love to take the credit for it, but Lissa did all of the work gathering pictures. I just put the power point together and added the music. Lissa did all of the work gathering the pictures because she put together an amazing book for my parents for their 40th anniversary. We gave it to them right after the slide show - they love it! Lissa did an amazing job.

Sleeping in the tent