Matt's 1st Backpacking Trip

It's been so fun to have "first" things with Matt as he's grown over the last 15 months. Just about everything is a first, but it's exciting as a parent to see the excitement in Matt for a new activity or experience. So Thursday night we drove up to our favorite mountains, the Uintahs. We packed in a whooping .5 miles to Fehr Lake and setup camp that night. Matt absolutely loved being carried in his backpack, playing in the dirt, and throwing rocks. We watched Josh fish for a while. We played at our campsite and fun around the fire. I know its hot and its summertime, but a fire is an absolute must (if allowed) when camping. Plus, it helped smoke all the buggies away.

We walked around the Fehr lake, its was gorgeous and fun to be in the outdoors. Josh gets this like primal, manly energy when he is in the mountains. He wants to scout out the area, fish, climb around, basically anything but sit and relax (which is what I love to do on our backpack trips). He is the happiest guy in the world when he is outdoors.

Matt didn't sleep the best in his sleeping bag, didn't let him roll around easily. So we weren't very rested when the sun came up at 6am Friday. But we ate breakfast, and packed up for our hike to Shepard Lake. It was about another mile from our camp, but it was all downhill going (uphill coming back, ahhh). It was worth the effort. There was a waterfall that fed into the lake, which was significantly bigger than Fehr Lake. Josh fished for a bit and caught 3 or 4 brookies. It was so much fun for him, he hasn't fished in ages! Matt liked watching Josh fish and would point to his rod like he wanted to hold it and cast himself. Matt got to hold onto the rod when a fish was on the line and Dad pulled it in. Then Josh held the fish close so Matt could get a feel. Look at his poor, dirty hands in the picture. My baby loved the dirt soooo much! I could only wash and wipe those hands so much while camping. Anyways, we had a great first experience with Matt and backpacking. Who knows, there might be another one in store this summer for him!?!? P.S. Josh has been growing his mustache out for 2 weeks, a buddy dared him. (Thanks Mike!) So that is the reason his upper lip looks shady and dirty looking. It is gone now, WOO HOO!