Antelope Island: Attack of the KILLER GNATS!!

What a pretty island! Just imagine what it could be with no gnats!

Sooo pretty!!
The victims! (Notice both kids swatting the gnats.)
Even in her sleep she can't escape the bites! (They were swarming around her head; there is one on her cheek in this picture.)
Get them off! GET THEM OFF!!
My lovely "gnatty" hair. :) It is getting long! Any ideas on what style to give it are welcome. I want to keep it long.
Poor Kate! She looks like she has the chicken pox! She had bites ALL OVER her head! She was pretty miserable on the way back until we stopped at Chick-Fil-A to visit Uncle Austin. He bought her two little cow stuffed animals that totally brightened her day!

Ahh, I am grateful to be writing this from home after a nice shower. Our family camped out with my old roomie, Shannon, and her family (Zack and Oliver) at Antelope Island in Salt Lake. Antelope Island is so gorgeous! But the blood-sucking gnats were awful!! The kids were wimpering and constantly swatting/scratching their heads. Poor things! We had planned on going on a short walk to explore, but we quickly all decided that a game in a tent sounded much nicer. We had forgotten to bring a game, though, so we drove to Walmart (not too far from there, surprisingly) to pick up Catch Phrase. After getting a taste of the gnat-free, air conditioned environment for a little while, we were then all in the mood for a little ice cream down the street. Doesn't this sound like a great camp out? :) We did eventually mosey back to the island after deciding against seeing a movie. Ha!

Luckily, we were able to see the sunset, and the gnats flew back to whatever hole they came from long enough for us to play a few rounds of our game outside.

Sadly, Andrew and I forgot our tent cover and the full moon was like a spotlight on us all night. As I got Kate ready for bed, I realized that the milk I had gotten at the store (THAT same day) was almost 10 days expired. Blast! I sent her to bed with a bottle of blue Gatorade that (big surprise) did nothing to settle her down. She was wired and wouldn't go to bed until 12:30am.

The best part, though, came when we woke up bright and early in the morning to swarms of gnats chewing on our flesh!! What the --?? We realized the netting on the tent was stretched slightly in one area--where the gnats ushered in a few hundred of their pals for breakfast (us). Kate was swatting them off in her sleep; we didn't want to wake her, so we covered her as best we could, grabbed some food, and ran for the car. When we went back to check on Kate, she was standing alone in the middle of the tent with a very bewildered look.

Needless to say, we packed up pretty early and went for a drive around the island. My foolish plan to go wading in the Salt Lake did NOT come to fruition. We didn't even get near it. It's a shame the state can't figure out a way to do a mass extermination of those things. We noticed later an electronic sign "welcoming" campers that read, "Bugs! BUGS! BUGS are BAD on the island!" Noted.

It was great to be able to see Shannon/Zack/Oliver, though, on their vacation from MA. It was definitely a memorable time!