CAMP FOSTER

This year I decided to start a new tradition with my kids.  My parents live in such a beautiful part of Idaho that I realized we are really foolish for not taking more advantage of that when we can.  So I decided each summer we would go stay at my parents house in Swan Valley and call the week "Camp Foster."  It kind of came to me one day when Ava was looking through Kasen's scout book and complaining about how it wasn't fair he got to do so many cool things at scouts and she had to do lame stuff at Activity Days like nails & hair.  I thought the kids would benefit from some outdoor type activities and earn something for it.  I found a bunch of camping charms on Etsy (made a key chain for Kasen, charm bracelets for girls) and figured out activities we could do for each one.  I was a little nervous with Dallin only being 6 weeks old, but it ended up being really relaxing and nice!  He was an angel baby.  So without further delay - our week at:

CAMP FOSTER 

The first day of camp was June 24th.  Our first "badges" we worked on were these four.  The bird badge requirements were identify and draw 3 animals in the wild.  This was really easy.  The first day we were there we saw a couple of hawks right by the pond.  One had a broken wing or something and couldn't fly.  The kids got as close as they could to examine it but it would just hop away into the tall wildflowers to hide.  We never saw it again after the first day. There are always a lot of mountain bluebirds up there which are so pretty.  We went out on razor rides everyday to look for animals and plants.  Kasen was always on the look out. The backpack badge requirement was to prepare a first aid kit.  We didn't do a whole kit, but my mom had the kids put matches in old film containers to put in first aid kits and 72 hr kits.  

The compass badge requirements were to go for a hike at the ranch.  We did the hike on Saturday the 25th.  It was a beautiful day, with a little breeze.  Dallin had to wear his hat because of the breeze and it was his first time in the Ergo.  He wasn't a fan at first and then gave up and fell asleep for most of the time.  I let Kasen and Kinsley lead the way to where they wanted to go.  We went up and over the ridge towards the mountains, but when they saw cows in the field they made a right turn and we hiked up behind the house.  I had actually never been up there so it was pretty fun.  Grandpa Foster had told the kids about a bear up on the mountain.  It had wandered into view of one of his cameras stationed up there.  So Kasen and Kinsley were a little nervous to get too close to the forest part.  They wanted to stay out in the open, which made it harder to find the perfect walking sticks.  It took them about 20 minutes to take two steps into the trees and grab sticks, but we finally did. 

We were going to pack a picnic to take with us on our hike, but the kids didn't want to risk attracting the bear especially because Kinsley wanted to bring a pb & honey sandwich.  So we went back inside for lunch.  After a while I realized I hadn't seen Kinsley anywhere.  I found her upstairs in her room working on a reading book.  I didn't even know she had brought it.  She was just making sure she didn't get too far behind even though we were on a mountain vacation she told me.  She is such a funny girl.  Always cracking us up for sure.

Saturday morning as we were getting ready for our hike, Grandpa Foster came pulling in and said that he had been over at their Stake Trek just up the road at Zitlaus ranch.  He had gone for breakfast and was coming back to change his clothes to go back for the last part of the trek - the women's pull.  He asked Ava if she wanted to go with him.  I'm not sure if she really knew what he was talking about, but she was a good girl and didn't want to disappointt him so she said she would go.  I'm not sure that my dad realized Ava was only 10 yrs old and everyone else at trek was 14+!  Ava was tall enough to fit in though.  We quickly gathered up some pioneer clothes for her and they were off.  Ava got put into a family with her 2nd cousin Grace which made her feel not as nervous.  She said that she had fun.  I was so proud of her.  She is so brave.  I'm not sure that I would have been that brave as a 10 yr old to go do something like that on my own.  Grandpa Foster thought he would be there with her the whole time, but there were a couple of people that got sick and had to be hauled off the mountain in ambulances.  So he got called away.  At the end Ava couldn't find him.  As you can see in the picture there were so many people there that she got a bit scared and started crying.  She said she decided to pray to find Grandpa.  After her prayer she asked someone if they knew Brother Foster.  They said, "Are you talking about President Foster?"  She said, "Well I'm not sure if he is a president of something, but he does own a cheese factory."  haha  They ended up taking her to him and along the way they asked her who her parents were.  Whoever it was knew both Jed & I and she thought that was cool.  She ended up staying out on trek most of the day with the Ririe Stake.  Again, I was so proud of how brave she was.  Ava is so mature for her age!

Saturday night my sister came up with her husband and baby Jaxon.  She stayed up with us most of the week.  It was so fun having her.  The kids loved watching Jaxon & Dallin together.  They also loved having Lucy around.  These two were two pretty mellow boys.  They both just laid by each other and watched each other out of the corner of their eyes.  Dallin really liked holding arms.  It will be a different story next summer at Camp Foster II with these two walking around getting into trouble!

On Monday June 27th, we decided to invite our extended cousins up for a bbq and swimming in the pond.  It was really fun, as it always is, to get together like that.  It reminds me of my childhood.  Marilyn, Jared & family, Kara & kids, Melissa & family, & Michelle & kids all came up.  The kids played well together.  Lots of swimming and kayaking.  They even found a really gross salamander.  My parents are always so great to host a party when us kids get an idea to have one.  They never complain about feeding a lot of people or make it a big deal that their house gets destroyed.  I really admire that about them, because I hate hosting parties.

 

On June 28th, exactly 7 weeks since Dallin was born, I woke up that morning at 7:30am and about had a heart attack when I realized what time it was.  I hadn't gotten up in the night to feed Dallin.  Then I realized it was because Dallin was still asleep.  This has happened with every kid.  It is such an amazing feeling that comes over you after the initial panic when you realize that your child just slept through the night for the first time!!!  Dallin was such a good boy the whole time we were at Camp Foster.  He took naps well, slept fantastically, and wasn't fussy.  I credit a lot to this great Tineo tent and his Miracle wrap.  We also started getting little noises and smiles from him.  Like I said before, the kids loved being around the babies. 

On Tuesday, we invited our friends the Lerwills up for the afternoon.  The kids had to pass off their paddle badge by getting in 2 hrs of kayaking.  I think they earned all 2 hrs the day before with cousins, but they were excited to teach Brodee & Rhode how to kayak.  My friend Lacee is on the short side and her boys seemed to inherit that from her.  Brodee in the middle is older than Ava.  And Rhode is Kasen's age, but Kinsley's size.  Not that height matters at all, but we both got a good laugh at the difference between our kids.  While they were up it started thunder-storming so the kids were constantly in and out of the water.  While they were out at one point, they found this gross fish on the bank of the pond.  It looked exactly like a fish, but had four legs.  At first we thought it was a salamander thing, but when they were telling Grandpa Foster about it later he said they were a type of creature that lives both in and out of the water.  I can't remember what he called it now.  It weirded the kids out enough that they didn't get back in the pond the rest of the week!

On Wednesday, the kids completed quite a few badges.  The first was the canoe badge.  Since we didn't have any canoes, we decided to use Grandpa's fishing boat and go for a ride on the Snake River.  I have never been on the Snake River my whole life.  It is always interesting to me how much my kids do that I'm also doing for the first time.  The river was so fun.  There were so many fisherman out on the river with guides.  No motors on their boats, just paddles - floating down the whole river all day long.  I think my dad said they were called drift boats. 

We even stopped at one point and Grandpa let the kids try fishing.  We never caught anything though. The kids loved it when we zoomed down the river fast, but I'm not sure the other fisherman were thrilled by it.

Another few badges we completed as well were our tree badge.  This was one the kids worked on all week because it had a lot of things to pass off.  They had to identify 3 different types of trees, climb one, collect leaves and put them together in a notebook.  I'm pretty sure only Ava did everything, but they all worked hard.  It was nice being up in the mountains, but having a house right there too.  We could go out for an hr or so and come back in and then after a while go back out.  It was perfect for Dallin.  I didn't want the kids watching cartoons or movies the whole week so they found things to keep themselves entertained.  They found out they actually liked some of the toys they thought were not very fun at first.  Ava was also my rockstar and practiced her piano everyday and did tons of reading.  She is amazing.  Our last badge of the day was the pan.  The kids had to cook something over a fire to earn it.  We had invited Grandma & Grandpa Erickson up for tin foil dinners.  The kids helped me prepare them and did a great job.  They peeled all the potatoes and carrots.  We used leftover meatloaf in some of them and they actually were better than just ground beef.  Unfortunately, a rain storm came in right when we had the fire going (Grandma had helped them pass off another badge about fire) so we had to bring the tin foil dinners in and cook them on the grill.  The kids roasted marshmallows over the stove for dessert.  It was really fun visiting with both sets of grandparents.  I'm still kicking myself for not taking a picture of the kids with them.  I was thinking that not many kids could do something like that - have both sets of grandparents know each other and spend an evening together and enjoy it! 

On Thursday morning, June 30th, the kids earned their sun badge.  They had to watch a sunrise.  It is really a pity we don't wake up more often to do this.  Granted, most places the sunrise would not be as beautiful as it was here!  I was actually surprised when I woke up the kids that they didn't complain and say nevermind.  Ava & Kasen popped right out of bed and went down to the porch with blankets.  Kinsley got up looked out the window and said, "Oh yeah nice."  Then sleepwalked back to bed and crawled under her covers.  :)  I'm not sure she even opened her eyes at all.  We still gave her the sun badge though.

The guitar badge (at the beginning of the post) requirements were originally to learn 5 campfire songs, but the day we did the campfire it rained so we changed it to "learning something new."  Grandma Foster taught the kids how to use her sewing machine.  They practiced on paper using the different stitches.  They also helped unpick buttons off of Grandpa's old shirts.

On Friday, Jed came back for us.  It was so great to see him again.  We definitely missed him.  We had a few badges left to finish.  (Shown at the top of the post) The camp sign badges requirement was to set up a tent.  The sleeping bag badge was for sleeping outside.  We decided to save these for our Erickson camping reunion in a few weeks.  The campfire badge we did the night we had tin foil dinners.  Grandma Foster did a great demonstration and before I could snap any pictures the rain came and washed us out and moved us back inside.  So the last badge was the binocular badge.  The kids had to see a natural wonder to earn it.  Originally I wanted to take them to Jenny's Lake, but then realized it would be hard on my own with younger kids.  So instead we decided to drive about 5 miles up the road to go see a natural waterfall.  It came down off the mountain right into the Snake River.  Also a positive, it was right off the road so we walked only about 20 steps.  It was beautiful.  Grandma Foster came with us and down below people were swimming. 

Before we left the ranch house Jed took the kids on the razor and they stopped and picked me a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers.  It was the perfect way to end Camp Foster - other than I had to leave them there.  We celebrated a fantastic and successful week in the mountains by heading to the big city of Rigby for some world famous bambinos.  They were amazing too.

 

We had such a great time and we will definitely continue the tradition each summer.  Hopefully as my sister's kids get older we can have Camp Foster become something for all the cousins to come to.