Father’s and Son’s Campout! Yay!
At least, that was the overall impression I got from Ethan and Jeremy, ever since we left the last campout. They asked if we could go again, and every so often throughout the year, would mention it and ask if we were going again. I never said we wouldn’t, and as time came closer, we made plans to go again. As luck had it, earlier in the week all the kids had turns throwing up, and I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to go. However, as Friday rolled around, Rebecca was the only one feeling ill and she okayed our leaving her for the night.
Last year was off in the picturesque Hobble Creak Canyon, in the shade surrounded by hills and trees, with the typical outhouse (hole in the ground) toilet for facilities. It was over an hour from our house to there, with a good portion of the drive just getting from the freeway to the campground.
This year, our ward opted to go with a campsite at Willow Park, a local state park off the Jordan River, about 20 minutes from our house, where the Girl Scout and Cub Scout day camps were also held at. The distance was one of the best perks about the location; the campsite we ended up with was in a grassy field with no trees around, although we did have a covered pavilion with tables to sit at.
I got off work early to get home and pick up the boys, then on the way to the campsite, we stopped off at Wal-Mart and Smiths to get some camping food and supplies (another perk of the location is it’s within a mile of both stores). We then arrived and set up our tent on the vacant southern portion of our campsite, and then the boys started playing with the other boys who were there.
One of the other fathers arranged a “Ladder Ball” competition, as he brought a few sets for people to compete on, and that went on during the light (and into the night). We ate whilst the competition went on, and my turn finally came as dusk was coming. Unfortunately, with the park’s location being so close to the Jordan River, that brought mosquitoes, which quickly attacked us all. Bro Whiting (whom I was playing against) graciously let us use some bug repellant wipes, which we quickly rubbed on our exposed skin, so we kept the bug bites to under ten apiece.
The game went on well past dark (we had lanterns and car headlights to see the playing field), and a campfire burning bright. Around 10:30 at night, we heard Taps played on a bugle from a neighbouring campsite, amongst the trees – must have been a scout group? After some more general hanging out at the fire, roasting marshmallows, I convinced the boys to go to the tent so we could get some sleep.
Last year, most of the fathers sent their kids to their tents, bringing portable electronics to watch movies on. I didn’t want to do this, this year, so I had our kids just in the tent and tried to get them to sleep. However, being past 11 at night, I didn’t realise I was one of the early ones to do this. Most of the other boys were running around wild, coming up to the tent and making noise well past midnight. I guess I was one of the stricter parents there? Then, as luck would have it, our tent was next to a group of gamers, up well past 3am playing Magic. (the only reason I knew the time was I heard one of them comment as they walked back to their own tent.)
In the morning, some of the men started making the standard camping fare of pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and hash browns, with orange juice to drink. For some reason, Ethan and Jeremy weren’t overly hungry, and I only ate a minor portion of it. Immediately following this, about half of the group packed up and went home. However, we decided to go exploring some of the paths first, so we went walking along the Jordan River and found some animal paths along some of the woodsy areas (I can’t call it a forest, as they were just some random trees). Eventually, we finished exploring and came back to the campsite, where most everybody had packed up, so we put the tent away and went home as well.