Labor Day Weekend

Every Labor Day we go camping with the Johnson family. Some years we get a cabin, but unfortunately that didn't happen this year so we were roughin it. We went up to Marshall Lake in Flagstaff. For some reason Cade and I took forever getting ready and had to make a few stops on the drive up there so we didn't arrive until about 8:30 on Friday night. About bedtime Cade realized he left the cool chest with our food sitting in our kitchen. This was not good. We were supposed to provide Saturday night's dinner and now we didn't have our food and would come home to a lot of ruined food. After a long debate we decided it would be best to drive back home in the Robles' Prius and get our food rather than to go to the store and buy more food for everyone. (Thanks for letting us borrow it!) So we drove the hour and a half back home and arrived about 12:30, but we enjoyed another wonderful night in our bed so I was glad about that. (In case you're wondering, it was cheaper to drive home because it was only about 2.5 gallons of gas, or $10.)

Don't worry though, the fun doesn't stop there. Cade, Conner, and I all came down with colds before we left so we weren't feeling great and Cade never even went fishing, hunting, or wakeboarding because he didn't feel good or was too wiped out. So most of the time we just sat around camp, which is fine for me but Cade doesn't love it.

Caryn and Conner sitting by the fire

Katie and Jeter



Tina, Tanner, Kameron, Jacob, Baby Logan, Natalie, Sam, Baby Conner, Caryn

On Saturday night Cade's parents got a couple of hotel rooms so we could take showers and go to church on Sunday. There was some mix up about that and when Katie and I decided our boys were ready to go to bed we had some difficulty getting there. Cade's parents were on the boat with no cell service so we couldn't get a hold of them to find out which hotel it was. We knew the name but there are multiples in Flagstaff so we didn't know which one. We called one of them and found out that the person who made the reservation had to be with us to check in. So we decided to drive down to the lake to try and find Tina or hopefully get better cell service. Unfortunately, every time a call went through it got disconnected before we could explain. After about 30 minutes we finally saw Russ coming up the dock and he told us that Tina had just driven back to camp with Jacob. So we drove back up there to get her. Then we ended up going to the wrong hotel and had to keep driving. It wouldn't have been so bad except that now both our boys ended up getting over an hour long nap in the car when they were supposed to be going to bed for the night. Once we finally got situated in the hotel the boys weren't tired at all and stayed up until 10:30. I'm really glad we got the hotel rooms because I barely slept at all due to my cold and felt awful and I can only imagine how much worse it would have been on the ground in a tent, without my pillow that I forgot to bring back up on the second trip up.

Conner and Jeter playing in the big "playpen". Conner loved waving at everybody from in there.

Grandpa Johnson with Jeter, Conner, and Logan



On Sunday we went to church and then hung out around camp some more. After solving the social problems of the country from around the fire we went to bed. It started lightly raining in the morning so Cade was moving our suitcases that were sitting outside into the truck and Conner decided he was ready to get up for the day (at 5 am). We hung out for awhile longer but by 11:00 Conner was ready for his second nap and Cade and I weren't feeling great so we decided to pack it up and go home when the rest of the family went down to the lake.

Our little family



Conner (9 months), Logan (6 months), Jeter (10 months)

Don't worry the fun still isn't over. While we drove down Lake Mary Road Cade was speeding. (He claims that is the only road he ever speeds on because he feels like the limit should be higher, I'm so sure.) Well it starts at 50 MPH and then drops to 45 MPH. Soon after it dropped Cade got caught going 66 MPH, which as the officer informed us is criminal. Its really annoying that Cade also claims he had the thought to slow down but just ignored it. While the officer was writing the ticket Cade was telling me he thought he knew who it was. When the cop came back he said that Cade looked familiar and we figured out how they sort of know each other. (The cop's mother in law works for Cade and she frequently has his kids at their office while they wait for their parents to pick them up.) It was obvious once the cop realized who Cade was that he felt really bad giving him the ticket but he had already put it in the computer and printed it out and said he had to give it to him then. But at least on the ticket he said Cade was only going 65 MPH so that it was no longer criminal and cost $202. Then the I-17 was way backed up and barely moving so 20 minutes out of Flagstaff we turned around, went back and went home the long way around. It rained alot on the drive home so our stuff was soaked, (at least it was at the end of the trip. You know me, always looking for the positive :) Finally about 2 and a half hours later we made it home.

It was great that it rained most of the day on Monday and it was really easy to pull a lot of weeds we've been neglecting. But the best part of the weekend was that Cade put together the patio swing I've been wanting for 3 months that was half off for Labor Day. Conner and I love it! Overall it wasn't the best Labor Day weekend, but it was good to have the whole family together one last time before half of them move to Hurricane next month.