Sunday, May 17, 2009

Fathers & Sons Campout



This weekend was our annual Fathers & Sons camp out. We drove up into Wyoming into a beautiful area called Happy Jack Recreational Area. Brig has begun asking to listen to "guitar" music when we are in the car. He further clarified that he like electric guitar not the sound of wooden or acoustic. So on the way up I introduced him to Led Zepplin which has, arguably some of the greatest guitar ever. At one point he asked me why I was shaking my head. I told him that is how you dance when you are sitting in a car listening to good music. He picked it up pretty quick. We got to the campsite and set up the tent in a very nice spot. We did the typical stuff, roasted hot dogs and made smores. At night the boys ran around with their flash lights playing with their friends and I roasted marshmallow's on demand. Brig pretty much stuck with his friends and close to the fire, but Kre is a bit of a wanderer with no fear. I had to occasionally drag him back to the camp. It got pretty cold at night and after only 30 minutes in bed Brig started to shiver. I had them wrapped in heavy quilts inside of their sleeping bags (probably indoor fun sleeping bags) with another blanket around them both. I put Brig into my nice down bag and he quickly stopped shivering and fell asleep. Then Kre started shivering. I zipped both of the boys bags together got in it with Kre and threw the quilts over the two of us with the spare blanked underneath to insulate us from the cold ground. Kre quickly warmed up and fell asleep. Hunkering down in the bag which was too short, under the quilts, which were too short holding Kre very quickly did two things. First were the cramps in my hip flexors trying to fit in the bags and under the quilts, second was a numb right arm from holding Kre. I didn't get any sleep that night...... and I mean that literally. I got to listen to the night noises and watch it get progressively lighter. But the boys were warm which is better than I can say for others. I heard several small children cry at different times throughout the night. The next day we ate breakfast with everyone else and sat by a fire to warm up. Then the boys and I headed out on a beautiful hike. For lunch we started our own little fire and roasted the rest of the hot dogs. It was fun to sit there with the boys. I hope they remember it and look back with fond memories of our camp outs. On the way home we stopped at a memorial for the old Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway. Once in the car Brig asked for some "guitar" music. I put something on, evidently he didn't like it and asked for some "Awesome" guitar music. We went back to Led Zepplin. I got plenty of sleep Saturday night, back in a bed that fit me and even a bit on Sunday afternoon too! Thanks to Ric for documenting the occasion.

4 comments:

Judy said...

mom and i loved this and brought back so many memories. Great dad and mom. Hope you got a good nap today.

mom and dad

Bonnie said...

I esp love the Sunday afternoon recovery nap picture!! You guys are so cute! Our father sons had a tornado warning come through so everyone abandoned everything and ran home, we don't have good luck them. My favorite was the campout before where I put all the sleeping bags on the living room floor and then left while they packed and they only took 1 sleeping bag, I don't think Kirk slept that night.

ken said...

"There is no charge for awesomeness." Brig has good taste. i love knowing the exact moment he learned to bounce his head to music!

Kristen Parnell said...

What a good dad! Can't wait for Father and Son's... maybe next year?

Ric-- 23 days?! I miss my counter-- I loved checking and seeing it go down. So now I just keep checking yours! Hope you're feeling okay.