Father-Son campout

I'm honored that Amy asked me to blog about the church father-son campout! First off, Amy really takes care of us boys. She got all the food ready and packed the kids stuff. All I had to do was grab the tent and my own clothes and we were off.

The trip started with us driving to Ensign ranch about an hour away. We talked about the rope swing and putting up the tent and eating s'mores. Then we listened to music and skipped all the "girl" songs!

We arrived and unpacked the car. Charlie (7 years old) and Henry (2.5 years old) helped me to put up the tent. They got the poles together and Henry helped to stake the tent in the ground with the little hammer. Then Charlie and his buddies decided to have a pine cone fight! what could be more fun than that! They threw pine cones at each other until someone started crying and I had to encourage them to find a different game.

Henry ran off among the other tents and so I called out his name a few times until he giggled and came running back; this would occur about 20 more times over the course of 24 hours. He found the football and while older brother was throwing stuff at his friends, Henry and I played a close game of catch.

While we waited for hot dog and s'more time Charlie asked if he could have one of the sweet Koolaids that mom had packed for us. We're camping, right? So, sure. Let's drink them ALL before dinner. So we did and it was great!

We cooked the hot dogs, caught the marshmallows on fire and then ate the chocolate without waiting for graham crackers or marshmallows.

Before the campfire we found the bug spray that mom had packed and made sure we were covered. (thanks again, Amy!) Charlie slid down dirt hills on a worn out piece of plywood; he ran an obstacle course; and he and Henry splashed through as many mud puddles as they could find. The boys played in vacant cabins, climbed a tall tree house, and then we went searching for the rope swing!!! The Rope Swing!!!! Yes, indeed!

It was the best thing ever! I had to push Charlie and Henry out of the way so I could go first. ;-) The rope swing has a 6 foot tall tower and you hold on and swing out across a dirty little pond and then land back on some sawdust. Charlie climbed up the tower without any of the nervousness from last year, shouting, "Dad, get the rope! Bring me the rope!"

We had such fun for at least an hour that first night and then went back two more times the next morning! The rope swing was the highlight of the trip. And not to be left out, Little Henry got to go on the rope swing, too. The first night Henry went on the rope swing while in the backpack. He liked it! The next day i didn't have the backpack but held him in my arms and told him to squeeze my neck! We did that over and over again. What fun! I want to go back just thinking about it. Finally, with the rope hanging straight Henry held on tight and swung back and forth 5-6 feet. He loved it, too!

With no bug bites it was time for bed. We slept in our clothes even though they were dirty. Charlie wore MY sweatshirt because making sure he had a jacket was my one responsibility. We told ghost stories in the tent: "When the log rolls over, we'll all be dead!" and "In that deep dark box, there was a.... JELLY BEAN!"

Charlie was great watching out for his little brother and showing him all the neat stuff you get to do at father-son campout. We drank hot cocoa by the campfire. We moved around the campfire to keep the smoke out of our eyes. We still smell like campfire! We missed mom when it was bed time and when we woke up.

But, most of all we smiled a lot and made some great memories!