Our Fantastic Four...Plus Some More: Don't Go Back to Mirror Lake....You Might Forget to Run Away

Since we didn't get much camping in throughout the summer we decided that was our top thing to do for Labor Day weekend. We wanted to go somewhere really cool and decided it was time to take the kids to the beautiful High Uintas. We reserved a camp site at Mirror Lake Campground. We got out way later than we hoped and arrived way after dark. It was freezing!! You could see everyone's breath and since we didn't have a campfire going we didn't have a way to warm up. We hurried and set up our tent and just went to bed. We didn't sleep too great that night because we were so cold. It got down to 40 degrees at night!! So cold!! In the morning some of us were still too cold and sleepy to venture out of our sleeping bags. Who is that freaky looking person in the corner of this pic?

We finally finished setting up camp in our teeny campsite and rested a bit and just enjoyed the great outdoors.

Later on we hiked down to Mirror Lake. What a beautiful area it is! The elevation is pretty high. The mountain behind us in these pictures is called Bald Mountain because there's not much vegetation on it because of the elevation. We didn't walk far but all the kids wanted shoulder rides from Dad. What a nice dad!

We had a fun little hike. Somewhere along the way we learned that we definitely have a tween that doesn't like lakes, to hike, or camp, or appparently take pictures with her mom anymore. How did this happen? Maybe she was just mad she didn't get a shoulder ride too. P.S. I told you I was putting this picture on my blog, Sky!!

After hiking around Mirror Lake, we drove around to look at all of the other little lakes up there. This was one our favorites, Butterfly Lake. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is actually shaped like a butterfly.

We headed back to our campsite to start a fire because we were already pretty chilly. We had fun playing games and hanging out by the warm fire....one of my favorite things about camping.

The stars up there were amazing to see. They were everywhere! We did a little night hike back over to Mirror Lake to check out the telescope and see if we could see anything cool through it. The moon was so cool! I don't think my kids have ever seen it through a telescope and they were all ooooing and aaahing that there were actual craters in it.

The girls...

The boys....

Me & my shnookums....

Of course we had to have some yummy campfire treats. S'mores are always a favorite & the kids are really digging the new chocolate marshmallows, but we also tried a new treat, campfire banana splits! Yummers! You can tell something is really good when it still is lingering on a kid's face the next morning. :)

The second morning when we woke up everyone was warm and cozy and much happier after actually sleeping pretty well during the night. The secret? Everyone had on two pairs of socks, two pairs of pajamas & two sweatshirts on over that!

I had to include this picture of Alexis because it's so dang funny. She had this walking stick and would walk around with it whenever we were around camp. It was teeny though so she had to bend over to walk with it & she looked like this little old grandma. We were cracking up the entire time. She's such a cutie!!

Kade was begging to go back to Mirror Lake for a bit before we headed home. After packing up camp we headed over to the lake again. It was the most beautiful day.

We started walking on the trail and before long realized that we might as well walk the entire lake. There were some parts that were kind of iffy on my foot and since we didn't plan on walking the whole thing we didn't bring water, but we survived. Kade was the only brave soul that ventured into the freezing cold water...but not much. It was an awesome hike!