BlogChoa

Joshua Tree

Last weekend or so ago, Jeff was on a 4 day, and he has been itching to go rock climbing. We have never been to the Joshua Tree National Park, so we decided to rough it for a couple of days and camp in this beautiful rock desert. (Little did we know that it was going to be the hottest weekend ever) See us trying to huddle in the shade:) Travis, Jennie, and Jeremiah joined us. It was so nice to have a playmate for Eli and someone to play Farkle with.
Our campsite was really secluded and had this great little cave area that was shaded for the most part of the day. We sat around in the cave and played games, the boys played with their sand toys and cars, and we also rock climbed on one side of the rock wall and repelled down into the crevice.

Here is Travis repelling down (and Jeff way in the back between the two boulders.)

The rocks were so amazing and easy to climb, even the little boys loved to climb them. Eli went all the way up with me right behind him, and Jeremiah thought he was a big boy doing it too:) THey were sooo cute and dirty.

There was no water or showers at the campsites, so we brought our own portable camp shower, hung it up in the cave, and bathed the kids in a big plastic container that we brought. It was pretty interesting to see how well we could rough it with 2 toddlers. But we did it; it was alot of work, but we had fun doing it.

The Paci Project: Day 1

This is Eli's first official day with NO paci! We had some few slip-up days, a few tantrums and then giving in by the unprepared parents; but now I mean business. I read up on ideas of how to wean your toddler from their paci, mentally prepared myselffor the torturous journey and began by making a box. Eli loved coloring with markers and placing stickers on the box to decorate it for his new baby cousin, Connor (who will be joining our family in 2 months). Then we went on a trip to good ol' Barnes & Nobles to purchase the No More Pacifier for Piggy book. It is a sweet story about a pig who constantly has a paci in his mouth and can't have a good time with his friend, Ducky, because of his crutch, the Paci! Eli really enjoyed the book, which we read about 4 times today. Before nap we put all of Eli's old, new, borrowed (none were really borrowed, that would be gross:) and Big Blue paci's in the box and sealed it to give to "Auntie Jessica".
And just for reassurance (for me), I slit the tips of all the paci's because I knew when Eli was putting them in the box he was going to try out his favorite Big Blue Paci's and want to keep them. Since they are busted, he won't suck on them.
Anyway, pray that these next few days go smoothly and for Eli to at least be able to go down for a nap, since he could not fall asleep today and was exhausted by bedtime. I'm exhausted as well and must go to sleep. Keep u posted on how he does...