Knoll Lake

This past weekend David and I took the kids camping up at Knoll Lake for a little family trip. It was our first family trip that we have taken since we have had the kids and we had such an enjoyable time. David's Dad gave us the good idea to go up to Knoll Lake. Neither one of us had ever heard of it but we thought it would be fun to try something new. It is about 45 minutes north of Payson and it is gorgeous. We left Friday around one o'clock and headed out of town. Now I knew the car rides would probably be pretty miserable because Maylee absolutely hates her car seat and she didn't let me down in this way of thinking. She pretty much screamed the entire way there. David and I kept joking about how she wonderful it is to have Maylee to keep us company and to sing for us, joking about it was the only way for us to stay sane. Since we have never been to Knoll Lake neither of us knew how far we had to go and where our journey would finally end. So we were started to get really edgy from all the screaming when finally we hit the turn off to Knoll Lake. We had to take a dirt road for 29 miles through the forest until we came to the camp grounds. Once we pulled off the highway onto the dirt road, I pulled Dutch and Maylee out of their seats and they got to sit on our laps for the rest of the trip. Dutch loved it. The weather was beautiful so we had the windows rolled down. Dutch was like a little puppy, he kept going back and fourth between our laps and putting his head and arms out the window, it was so cute. Once we finally made it to the campgrounds, David got the tent set up and Maylee was finally able to get down on the ground and play, which is her favorite thing to do. The only thing I forgot to bring was a warm jacket for Maylee, so she wore Dutch's pajama top when it was cold. I'm sure the other campers thought we had two little boys. Here's Maylee enjoying herself in the tent. When we first got to camp, Dutch wasn't really sure what to think. He wasn't sure what to think about the whole camping thing on Friday night. He kind of just stuck close to us and just hung out around the picnic table. He really enjoyed eating smores though. And he really wasn't very excited about sleeping on the ground. He had to lay on Davids chest until he fell asleep. The next morning he decided he enjoyed camping after all. He loved taking a walk through the forest and playing in the dirt. We didn't do much on Saturday. It was really just a very relaxing little day. The kids woke up bright and early, which I am sure the other campers weren't very thrilled. Dutch tends to wake up really crabby, so at 6am, he was up and crying for awhile. But once he got past that we just hung out around the campground for a little bit and let Dutch play. Here's Dutch driving his matchbox car around the picnic table. That kid always has a car with him, he's obsessed. Maylee and I Dutch eating breakfast... Here's the only picture we got of the four of us on our trip... And Maylee and I again... And then we decided to find the lake. The campgrounds aren't around the lake which I thought they would be. But they are only about a 10 minute walk or a 2 minute car ride away. So we packed up and headed to the Lake. The Lake was so beautiful. We were a little disappointed to find out that it isn't a swimming lake, it's really cold and they load it with trout for people to fish. But you can take boats or canoes out on it. I would love to take a canoe up there and explore the lake. The lake is also a lot bigger then what I thought it would be. You can't even see the whole lake from the parking lot because it divides and goes back into the forest. So maybe one day when we have a vehicle big enough to take a canoe there, we'll go back. Daddy and Dutch playing by the Lake... Mommy and Maylee.... After hanging out at the lake for a little bit we decided to start heading back since the kids were getting ready for naps. We were hoping they would sleep for the trip home, no such luck. We took our time coming out of the forest and we went a different way so we could make some other stops on the way out. Again we didn't' strap the kids in their car seats while we were on forest roads only going about 25 miles an hour. We took Maylee's seat out and let Dutch play in the back while we drove. He thought we was the coolest thing ever, being able to play back there. And it's amazing how big the car looks when Dutch can stand up back there and not hit the roof with his head and run on the seat. For awhile on the way out Maylee fell asleep so we laid her on her tummy on the back seat and she slept so good. The reason she hates her seat, and doesn't' sleep in the car is because she hates to be on her back, so she did get a little nap in before Dutch decided he wanted to lay with her back there. Here's Maylee sleeping... Dutch waking Maylee up.... Dutch playing in the back... When we were loading up the car we put Dutch and Maylee on the front seats to play. I told David that this is how it's going to be in 15 years when Dutch has his license and they start driving everywhere. On the way out we came to east Clear Creek and we got out to stretch our legs and let the kids have a break. There were a bunch of people there catching crawdads, they said they were trying to catch a total of 5000 and then they were going to eat them for dinner, gross. So David and I sat in one little spot and let Dutch throw rocks in the water and we protected those crawdads from being boiled to death. Right before we hit the main highway and had to put the kids back into their car seats we pulled over and had a picnic. Again hoping that they would sleep with full bellies. It kind of backfired though, Dutch thought that a picnic was for running around and exploring not for eating. But he sure had a good time playing, which did tire him out for the first 45 minutes of the drive back. The drive back was pretty miserable. Maylee screamed the entire way home. Finally when we made it to the 101 we pulled over so I could nurse her, only to find out she had a very full poopy diaper. That made me feel really bad to realized she had been sitting in that. So we got her cleaned up and feed and then she had to go back into her seat, oh she did not like that. Her screaming got louder and then Dutch got in on the action. We were only about 20 minutes from home and it seemed like the kids were trying to see who could cry and scream the loudest. I finally just started laughing so hard. It was just one of those times where you either need to laugh or cry and I just started laughing. Which made David start laughing. So the kids are screaming and we were laughing. But we finally made it home and the kids got to get out of the seats and be set free again. Here are just a few more pictures from our trip.