Camping!

Last Friday night the boys and I went to Jordan Pines camp ground for the ward camp out.  I don't enjoy camping with toddlers and Daniel doesn't like camping, so Daniel (quite willingly) stayed home with Jane and it worked out beautifully!  The boys are a lot more help this year than they were last year.  We had camp set up in less than 30 minutes and they went to other campsites to help them. 

Two of the dads took the group of 10 boys that were there early on a hike to Donut Falls.  The hike was exciting for the boys.  Between the hike, all of the running around, staying up late and waking up early, they were exhausted the next day!  I was exhausted just from the late to bed (11pm) and waking up early (5:45 am) part. 


Paul found a bungee cord and made an arrow with it. A few of the boys helped him make notches in some sticks so they could use them as arrows. I was quite proud of Paul's creation.

 The bow and arrow reminded me of when we went camping with my parents when Mark and Paul were 3 and 4 years old. Mark found a stick that he was using as a bow and he was using pretend arrows. He called it his "barrow". My Dad told him that it wasn't a bow because it didn't have a string. Suddenly Mark became distraught and Dad had to find a string to tie to the barrow to calm Mark down! Mark was still content to use pretend arrows though!

 Seth found a stick and was excited because it looked like a boomerang.  He was a bit disappointed when it didn't work, but he had fun with it anyhow! 

 Mark spent some time playing a card game with the older kids.  He is at the age where he can blend in with the little ones running around and still fit in with the big kids. 

 Seth and Paul enjoyed themselves with the marshmallows and cookies.  I lost track of how many s'mores Paul had, but I know that he had at least 3.  They had fun roasting Starbursts too! 

It was really nice to have older boys because they helped out a lot with setting up camp and they don't require as much supervision from me.  There is a BIG downside to older boys though- they stink.  Little boys smell like dirt, but older boys smell like dirt and sweaty socks and body odor.  It took me a few minutes to adjust to the odor in the tent. 

Seth was filthy.  He was covered in dirt from head to toe.  That to me is a sign of a successful camping trip!  I look forward to getting dirty again a few more times this summer!