Father-Son Campout

This weekend was our church's annual Father-Son camp-out. I took the two older boys (Cole and Eli) but we left Rylan at home because we felt he's not quite old enough yet (we've taken him camping with the whole family before, but with someone that little it's almost a full time job just to keep him out of trouble). This left Erin at home with Rylan which gave her a little bit of time off for Mother's Day. I'm sure she's looking forward to next year when she'll get to be completely alone.

We went up to Camp Cambell which is on Lake Kerr on the North Carolina/Virginia border. It's an old Scout camp that they don't really use anymore. It's kind of a primitive camping spot with some scattered outhouses and a few water spouts in various places. Not too rough, but not a picnic either. We drove up Friday afternoon and setup our tent. We roasted some hot dogs for dinner (I should say that I roasted the hot dogs while the boys caught toads) and then walked around a bit. We later went down to main area by the lake front where they had a large bonfire going. We roasted some marshmallows and had smores while the boys ran around and played with some other kids they knew from church. Cole is obsessed with something called "silly bands" that are all the rage at his school. And he was very happy to show them off to anyone who would listen and even happier to find other kids there who had some and were willing to trade.


We walked up back to our tent around 10:30pm and our flashlight died when we were about 5 minutes from our tent, which is pretty lucky considering when it could have gone out. Cole and Eli stayed up for another half hour goofing around (their original goal was to tell ghost stories but they didn't know any) until sleep finally took over and they went down. I wasn't quite sleepy enough so I layed in the tent with a flashlight and read a bit before falling asleep.

Our air mattress has a big leak so instead I bought a new foam pad from an outdoor store that's designed for backpacking. It's really light weight which is good if you want to carry your gear. But it's not that thick which is bad if you want to be comfortable. So I didn't sleep all that well, but in reality you don't get much sleep while you're camping so I wasn't too disappointed.


We woke up to nice cool morning weather and walked back down to the lake front to have breakfast. After that we got in line to take our turn at the canoes. We paddled out on the lake for about an hour before coming back. I've always enjoyed canoeing and I think this was also the boys favorite part of the trip as well. I do regret not having brought any fishing gear since that would have made it even more fun.

After being out on the water we walked back up and I let the boys goof off some more. They roasted some more marshmallows and ended up very sticky. We then packed up and went home. One night camping trips always seem to be over too fast. And I'm sure Erin felt the same way when we got home that afternoon :)

--
Michael