The Camping Report

The campout was....

a success!

AFTER getting lost on an almost 3-hour detour, Jordan and Kimball arrived at the campsite just as the sun was setting. For about an hour I was sitting at home worrying, since Jordan called me from a pay phone, told me they were lost, and got the number of a friend. I don't know why I hadn't sent the cell phone with him, but after a while he called again saying they had arrived safely, and that Kimball had been an angel for the nearly 5-hour car trip (it really should have only been 1.5-2 hours). He read books and for a long time he played a game with himself where he put his hand up to his ear and chatted, "Oh, hi DeeDee. Yes. Oh yes. Okay. DeeDee Utah. Hi DeeDee. Papa home."

Here are some more details that Jordan shared with me. Kimball was SO excited to see his friend Lilly, but Lilly and her sister were just going to bed when Kimball arrived. In the morning he was able to get a great big bear hug from her which left him beaming and satisfied.

Kimball had a hard time falling asleep--not because he was sad or homesick, but because he was so excited.

"Tent, Daddy, tent!!!!"

"Yes, Kimball, we're sleeping in a tent."

"Whooooo!"

After a while Jordan started to pretend to snore, and Kimball, after a few pokes and prods and "Daddy?", lay still and fell asleep. Jordan says he insisted on falling asleep head-down on an incline, and with no covers on. Later Jordan was able to flip him around and put him in the sleeping bag. He connected the two sleeping bags together, so Kimball snuggled up and laid his head in Jordan's armpit all night. Although he was sound asleep, he apparently talked in his sleep all night long, saying things like, "oh yes, oh yes, oh yes" (which, if you know him, is a common phrase, synonymous with "okay"...he says it all the time), and "Lilly play, Lilly play, Lilly play..." Funny kid. He ended up with 7 hours of pretty solid sleep. A lot less than he gets at home, but sufficient for a camp out I think.

Kimball had a lot of fun playing with his friends in the morning and exploring. During a stick fight which got rather intense (and of which Kimball was only an observer), one of the children said in his defense, "My dad didn't bring ANY toys, so he said I had to play with nature." To which another dad responded, "That's fine, just don't play with nature in other people's faces."

Jordan started talking to some of the older kids (4-5 yrs) who were deciphering "Chinese characters" on a log. He told them it was actually a map, and all of a sudden the children designated him the leader for the treasure hut. He led them around like an aimless pied piper until he found what could pass as a treasure: an interesting rock with a tree growing around it. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

I'm really glad Jordan and Kimball got to go! I would love to go with them next time, but I think it was good it was just Jordan this time. He is much more calm than I am. I would probably have gotten stressed out that we were lost, impatient with Kimball for not falling asleep (which would have made Kimball even less likely to fall asleep), and horrified that Kimball was stabbing an anthill with a stick and then had ants all over him for a while afterward. Eek. Jordan is such a great Daddy.

As for me, I had a wonderful time at girls' night. A friend hosted and there was a lot of girlie spa-related things like nail polish and facials, but more importantly, crackers, goat cheese, and chocolate cake. A lot of people were there, but 6 or so of us stalwartly stayed past midnight, having those wonderful kinds of conversations that range from the mundane to the serious to the bizarre to the belly-laugh-hilarious.

Here are more pictures of the camp out. What a wonderful place for kids to explore!

Kimball lying on the anthill. Yuck.

Looking at the ants. Jordan said he wasn't even fazed until one got in his ear.

The "treasure": that grooved rock with the trees growing around it.