6.07.2011

father/son campout.

Last weekend George and I went on the Bozeman Stake's annual Father Son camp out.  Ever since I was old enough to think about being a father, I have wanted to do this. I was so excited to take George camping. George has been camping 4-5 times now, but every time is a new adventure because he's older, and capable of so much more.  Our campsite was out in Greycliff, right off of the Madison River.

Ashley warned me several times to keep an eye on George... and I heeded her counsel.  Though I will admit that more than once I temporarily lost track of him while he was under the supervision of one of 20 older kids who were very nice to play with him.  George had fun from the get go.  First things first, setting up the tent.  We went out with our neighbors, Jackson (pictured) and his dad Tyler.

Ok, George's pose here reminds me of a famous album cover, or a famous poster.  It is some sort of mo-town record or something. Will someone please end my suffering and tell me what pose this is reminiscent of. I know I've seen this before somewhere. Help me!

George loved the tent... loved wrestling around and jumping on the sleeping bags.  It was supposed to be cold that night so I put his "Cars" sleeping back inside of Ashley's sleeping bag.  It seemed to be a pretty good system for keeping him warm.

This is Ashley's favorite shot from the weekend. He was certainly putting on a show.  When he's in his element, he does all kind of silly things.  Making stinkfaces is one of his fortes.

I like this pose because it reminds me of a famous photograph with disputed origins.

At night we had a campfire and George was hamming it up as usual. This is his "cheese" face. For dinner we had hot dog, chips, delicious ginger ale and smores for dessert.  The night time festivities included some fun poems, stories, a campfire, and the older kids played a few rounds of capture the flag.  George didn't seem too interested.

George was however, extremely interested in throwing stuff off the bridge.  Him and Jackson probably dropped a metric ton worth of debris, rocks, and driftwood into the river.

George relentlessly scoured the area for things he could drop into the river.

One of the few pictures of me and George at the camp out.  You'll see what I mean shortly.

By the time George's sugar rush and raw excitement wore off, it was about 11pm.  He woke up around six due to the light, and birds.  So that put him about 4-5 hours short of a typical night's sleep. Still, you don't really go camping to get a good night's sleep.  George only woke up once and was easily pacified, fell right back asleep.

In the morning we had all the muffins, juice, and sugary cereal a boy could ask for.  George plowed through about 1.5, huge costco muffins.

Here's the man, up close, contemplating his next move.  The whole time I kept asking, "George, are you having fun camping?" He would often reply, "camping... fun!"  Warmed my heart after a chilly chilly night.

As promised, the picture of me looking like an idiot. I don't know what's going on in the front there...

Afterwards George watched the father son tug-o-war. He wasn't much help.

Over all the campout was a great experience, I can't wait to go again. I think you have to keep your expectations low when it comes to sleep, but other than that it was great.  Due to the lack of sleep, George was a little bit of a basketcase the next day and had a serious melt down. But after that, he busted out a personal record, 5 hour nap and after that he was pretty much good to go.

Hopefully we can sneak in a few family camping trips before #2 comes in August.