Aspen Grove celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer. The Ririe family has been going almost that long. They started visiting Aspen Grove 45 years ago when my dad was just a little boy and we've been going every few years ever since. I myself have been (at least) 5 times. The last time we went was 6 years ago - right after Rog and I got married. It was fun to bring my kids this time!
So some of you are probably asking, what is Aspen Grove? It's a family camp run by the BYU Alumni Association and staffed mostly by BYU students. Quite conveniently located right up Provo Canyon. They have something for just about everyone. The kids are divided into age groups and taken care of during the day - even newborns - although if Peyton was any younger I doubt I would have felt comfortable leaving her.
Saturday afternoon while I was finishing packing and checking us in, Rog attended the baptism of a lady he used to home teach. He came up afterwards, but then left again Sunday morning to be at our ward.
The kids sure loved Sacrament meeting in the mountains - they spent most of the time jumping off tree stumps! (And I spent most of the time trying to get them to sit down with me. Guess who won?!) Peyton snuck into nursery for the first time ever. When I was dropping Corbyn off, they said it was ok to leave her (even though she isn't 18 months yet) and I jumped at the opportunity to enjoy Sunday School and Relief Society in peace.
After church they always take family pictures. Diana and Blake were able to come for the week, but Jason had to stay in Texas. With Rog at our ward, we had a complete family photo minus our husbands.
This group was complete for the first time in over 2 years - the original five reunited!
Sunday evening we went for a walk around camp, but ended up exploring all the fun playgrounds they have for the kids. This airplane was a favorite.
As was the pirate ship.
Monday afternoon is Aspen Follies. Our family wasn't big enough to form our own team, but we combined with other small families and had fun doing all the different activities. I dressed for the water activities, but no one else from our team wanted to do those - a bummer because they are always my favorite!
Corbyn didn't always understand the competition aspect of the activities. He just wanted to play! After the timed run with the big ball, I helped him push it up and down the hill at his pace.
After Aspen Follies the pool was open for free swim. Corbyn had the best time playing with his dad!
His big accomplishment for the week was being brave enough to swim around on his own with the help of a couple noodles.
Tuesday night is Frontier Night. Rog was pretty excited to throw a hatchet.
The kids loved riding the train around the field.
And Corbyn was so so so beyond excited that he shot a bear (a fake one of course) with a bow and arrow.
Wednesday is hike day. Rog, Diana, and I hiked Timp. The night before my dad was saying that just because we were at Aspen Grove, we didn't
have to hike Timp... But then he backtracked when he got thinking about how when he was younger he
always hiked Timp. We went to the early bird breakfast at 6:30 am and then headed out. Grandpa Ririe sent us off on the hike and he was there waiting for us when we got back! Everyone who wasn't hiking helped take care of our kids in the morning before they were able to drop them off at their groups for the rest of the day.
It was Diana'a first time, Rog's 3rd time, and my 4th time.
I would have been content to sit and work on my quiet book project the whole week.
And I definitely did a lot of that while I watched everyone play hours of tennis.
Including my styling husband with his shirt on his head.
But Rog made sure I got out and did other things as well. The ropes course is always a good time.
I went first and Rog followed right behind me, so we have pictures of me going up and Rog coming down.
And I tried archery for the first time. I didn't think it'd be my thing, but I was surprised by how much I liked it!
One night we checked out a fishing pole and went fishing because we're such huge fishers (ha ha). We didn't have any bait, so we didn't catch anything, but Corbyn had fun anyway.
We had a little birthday party for my mom with a pie from Village Inn. I made her
this grandchildren photo board with a Mickey Mouse theme because her kitchen is decorated with Mickey Mouse stuff. (I updated
this post with a picture of the one I made for Dixie's birthday back in April if you're interested.)
Thursday is the closing show. Corbyn wouldn't go up with his group to do their cheer and the song they learned and practiced all week... Maybe next time!
I got an award for swimming a mile throughout the week during the lap swim each morning.
And these guys, well they totally dominated the sports competitions.
We played games just about every night we were there. The last night they got me to play Settlers of Catan which was quite the accomplishment for them. I used to love that game, but then got so done with it and haven't played it in years!
Corbyn is our little monkey man. Every time we turned around he was climbing something!
Peyton loves the dirt. She was always getting dirty and loved every second of it!
She also thought playing ping pong with dad was about the coolest thing ever!
Since our last visit they put some animal statues around camp. We got so many cute pictures of Peyton playing on them.
She loved pretending that the bear bit her finger. She did it over and over again every time she saw the bear.
It was a great week! My one regret is that I didn't make it over to play a game of shuffle board (too busy sewing) - I guess we'll have to go back again in another few years!
