Kamping with Kids or FARR Out

Farr family camping on the Mogollon Rim during the Labor Day weekend. Gorgeous views, great nature including wild mushrooms, ripe wild raspberries and squirrels galore.


Emily strikes a pose. She spent most of the time reading in her 'own' tent. The last vampire book came out and Em was pretty much absorbed with the book. However, when Keenan would 'knock' on her tent and politely ask for a chocolate donut hole, she would drag herself away from her cozy little nook and go get him one. She was great with helping with the 5 year old twins who had never camped in the 'wilderness' before.

Cathy was enjoying a blissful moment of peace as she bravely sat on the precarious slabs at the very edge of the Mogollon Rim.

Dad (Jerry) kept a hand on dinosaur Keenan, who had a little too much energy being that close to the edge!
Cathy and the twins joined the Farr family and half of the Heaton family camping. Great nature lessons (would you expect less from a teacher?) When Kevin arrived, he led the kids to gather their own fresh wild raspberries.

Kiera and Keenan enjoyed camping, most of the time. They like the food and freedom of the wild, but a lot of it was too new for them to truly enjoy. However, the port-a-pot has now been renamed to the 'Potty Box'. Real S'mores from a real fire (and yes, that was another adventure all in itself!) allowed both kids to become very sticky and over sugared, but they loved it.
Grandma Farr did an excellent job cooking wonderful meals in the dutch ovens. Their camping and cooking gear are much to be admired, to the point that I was quite jealous.

Grandad Farr did an excellent job of keeping us mostly dry and providing fire for when we weren't. His very creative tarp layout provided a large space for kids, adults and dogs to be sheltered.

My sister Becky braved the cold (at least it only rained and didn't snow!) with her two dogs, neither of whom had ever been camping. Ollie is now part of her family who enjoyed playing with the other dogs and chasing after the other dogs who were actually chasing squirrels.

Kevin and his friend from high school, Kevin Wellard, had been hunting for deer near Flagstaff. They came and spent an evening with us. After Cathy, with the kids; Becky, with the dogs; left to return to the land of heat (Mesa), the rest of us remained to enjoy the quiet of the campsite, except for the almost constant off road vehicle noise. It continued to rain off and on, with it pouring down during the night. I was extremely upset when we woke up at 4:00 am to about 3" of water INSIDE our tent. Kevin picked up my computer bag and POURED water out of it. Luckily, the computer was protected, but everything else in the tent was soaked.

It had been a long time since we had been camping and we thoroughly enjoyed the break from our normally hectic and stressful life. Hopefully we will be able to do more next year. This is one time that we missed having Justin around to help pack everything up!