Tonto on Labor Day

So, I'm *finally* getting around to blogging about our camping trip on Labor Day weekend. We left Sunday afternoon and headed north, where it is cooler! We stopped inside the national forest just outside of Payson, Arizona and set up camp.

We made hobo dinners and roasted marshmallows. By the way...toasted coconut marshmallows=awesome.

The next morning we got up, made breakfast & broke camp, but not before having some fun with the BB gun. Everyone but Katelynn took a turn.

While we were packing up, Michael was taking pictures with my camera. He got some decent shots! Of course, we also ended up with a bunch of blurry ones, and he took a picture of the cooler, like, 14 times! Good thing it's digital, right?!

After we were all loaded up, we headed for Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It's a really nice park, and all the trails were easy enough to do with our three four-year-olds.

The first trail we did was the Waterfall Trail. The waterfall was really pretty, and you could go into the cave underneath it. We took a family picture inside the cave. The kids got soaked, but that's okay. It's what being a kid is all about--exploring, discovering, and not worrying about getting dirty.

Then, we set out on a long trail to the natural bridge. The kids had a great time stopping along the trail to catch frogs & crawdads and look at sticks, rocks & butterflies. The trail was nicely shaded most of the way. It was nice to see some "real" trees. There was a picturesque creek running alongside the trail. Scott & I decided it was just about the perfect sized creek to have on our property someday when we build our 'dream house'.

Once we got to the bridge, which is HUGE, we stopped to have some snacks trail side. Of course, we had to break out the "stinky fish"!! After our snack, we made our way through the rest of the bridge. There was one part of the trail that was pretty treacherous. It was really slick and steep, and if you lost your footing you would fall straight down into the water...or crash onto the rocks below! They even had a ranger stationed there to help people, and he was carrying a rope to throw down to people if they fell. Luckily, we made it across alright. It was pretty scary, though.

When we finished the trail we had a picnic dinner, then headed home. The kids had a blast! When it was time to leave they kept saying,"We want to go on another hike. We don't want to go home!" That's the sign of a successful trip, I'd say.

Here is a slideshow of our trip. I figured that would be easier than trying to upload a zillion (okay, maybe not a zillion) pictures to oh-so-slow Blogger. The pictures are labeled for your convenience. ;)