After our initial plan of backpacking to Kolob Arch with the kids was dashed to pieces by the very unhelpful ranger who told us that no campsites were available we went to plan B and headed up to Pine Valley. We decided against backpacking as it was getting pretty late, Tyler put on his Army pants, and we crossed our fingers that we could find an unoccupied campsite. Tyler had a place in mind that he used to camp at as a wee child and he thought he could probably find it. After a few wrong turns, one where we found a beautiful spot that I didn't dare camp at because I am so scared of breaking the rules, and one where we nearly drove into a ditch and a couple of trucks looking for their ward campout tried to follow us on a road that was not really a road, we found the spot of his childhood. It even had the remnants of the wooden tables made out of electrical spools that a family friend had brought up years ago.
Ty and Max set up the tent and then we enjoyed a rustic dinner of Jimmy Johns. After that Tyler took Max and Tessa on a hike that lasted until dark, but they had their headlamps on so all was well. They got back from their hike and Tessa proceeded to drink an entire gatorade, unbeknownst to me. I got the kids in their PJs where I learned that Tessa had peed her pants on the aforementioned hike. Luckily I had a whole package of wet wipes to clean her up with, and soon all six of us (Mitzi included) settled into our three person tent. We turned on Peter and the Shadow Thief, and listened until we had all fallen asleep.
Around 1 AM Tessa woke me up to tell me she had to go potty, so we crawled out of the tent where I learned that she had slightly peed in her PJs while in her sleeping bag. But since it was freezing cold, and I had no extra PJs for her, I decided she'd just have to live with it and I'd wash her sleeping bag when we got home. She went potty and we crawled back into the tent where I stayed awake for the next hour and a half dead sure that coyotes were right outside our tent.
Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I tried to wake up Tyler to tell him my fears. I even had Tessa shake him, since she woke up when I was yelling across the tent to him, but still he wouldn't wake up. Finally after a desperate, and slightly unkind, scream from me he woke up in a panic. He quickly calmed my fears and then proceeded to not be able to sleep, just like me. So we lay there and listened to the coyote howls that were close, but not scratching at the tent like I had originally thought.
Around 3 Tessa woke up to tell us that she had, in fact, peed her pants for the third time that night. Aaannd...this time it was not just a little. We threw her sleeping bag and PJs in a garbage bag, did another wipedown with wet wipes, found some pants of Max's that we rolled up about 5 times, and finally settled back into the tent, Tessa sharing a sleeping bag with Tyler.
As Tyler was preparing to drift off to sleep he jokingly said, "Tessa, don't you dare pee in my sleeping bag." And Tessa said, "Do you think I should just go potty now then?" It turns out she had another full bladder. So Tyler, oh-so-happily, took her out again.
At this point I had the giggles, and Ty couldn't sleep, so we listened to Peter and the Shadowthief for an hour. It turns out that the humor in it is even better at 3 AM, and we had some good laughs as we were listening. Finally, we all fell asleep and the remaining few hours of the night were accident free.
In the morning we had breakfast, I went on a very slow run while the kids did another hike, the kids climbed in trees, and then we packed up and headed home. All in all it was a grand adventure and I was grateful that we had a car with lots of supplies in it to deal with our little Tessa girl. Oh, and we discovered later that Mitzi got a tick in her ear from camping. Next time we will bring a flea and tick collar for her, and leave behind the gatorade for Tessa.