Camping

As I told you earlier I was going camping with my son this past weekend. The weather was great. The food was great. The weekend was great. We did a lot of hiking, a little fishing (nothing was biting!), and a bunch of talking and storytelling. When we got there we took a pretty long hike which lead into some fishing. When we got back we started the camp fire and the kids played with this air-forced rocket system. It kept them entertained for quite awhile. We had a good supper consisting of roasted pork loin, wild rice, corn, and applesauce. After supper we played a little football and took a night hike. Myself and a couple of other dads took it upon ourselves to add a little excitement to the hike. We decided to hide in the woods and scare the living daylights out of our brave scouts. It was hilarious. After we got back from the hike we sat around the camp fire and told ghost stories. We were all in be by 10:30 and the rafters in the cabin were a bangin'! Many of the dads were very proud of there snoring and didn't take much time in showing it off. It was still rather chilly in the cabin so we had to stoke the wood burning stove in the middle of the night. Blueberry pancakes and eggs were served for breakfast around 7:30 and we had the place cleaned up and we were on the road by 9:00. A great experience for early Spring!

Getting Back To The Way Things Should Be

My son and I just got back from camping. The weather was perfect and so was the company. We went with one of my friends and his son. It was his son's first time camping. We had an extremely good time and we had time to discuss kids today and their busy schedules. In a recent article, we had both read in the paper, the author wrote about how kids today have their schedules planned out to a "T" by their parents so they can fit everything in. The author also talked about how many parents feel the need to entertain their kids all the time. We both agreed that this was not good. We did agree that kids need time to be kids and learn to use their imagination. My friend and I both recalled our mothers forbidding us to come inside during many summer days and using the phrase "Find something to do!". We did, and most of the time ended up playing ball with the neighbor kids or brothers or sisters. Camping sure got all of us back to occupying our time when we didn't have a schedule to keep. My son rode his scooter for a long time and pretended to be fighting in "Star Wars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". The boys later that night got a chance to play "flashlight" tag and run around in the dark. They had a blast! The next day my friend suggested we get a boat and row for awhile out on the lake. We (mostly my friend because my steering was less than perfect) rowed out to an island and the boys had a great time playing, and wondering, if pirates had ever been on the island. We found a couple of wild blackberry bushes and enjoyed getting "stained" and tasting summer. The meals we had consisted of basic camp food. We had hot dogs, chips, and smores for supper and bacon and eggs, cooked right over the campfire, for breakfast. There is nothing like campfire food to get you reminiscing about your childhood. My friend and I stayed up until midnight talking about other camping outings and growing up in general. I hope to camp a few more times this summer, and fall, and enjoy the no-schedule activities.