THE BOYS' FIRST FATHER AND SONS CAMPOUT!

Yes! Eli finally got to go on his first Father and Sons Camp out. Jared has been talking to him about it for the last 2 weeks and the boy couldn't have been more excited. Bless his heart he thought they were only going to set up a tent in the backyard and watch a movie and eat pizza because that is what we do for his birthday, he had no idea what a real camp out was.

Jared was getting pretty excited as well, leading up to the big weekend. The Monday before we went to Pa's house and took his camping stuff and got a big net to put on top of all the stuff and hold it down in the back of the truck. Pa called it a "spider web" so then for the rest of the week Eli would ask, "I go camping and go to the spider web?"

Friday morning, first thing Eli did when he woke up was come running up to me with his new thermos and asked if it was camping day and get soda!

Jared and Eli were finally ready to hit the road for their big trip. Jared's favorite thing about going on father and sons with his dad growing up was stopping to get fast food on the way up and on the way back so he really wanted to carry on that tradition. First thing they did was hit up Circle K for a big soda! Eli was so giddy excited to be in there with so many choices to choose from!2 hours later they were in the last city they would hit before they got to the campsite so they stopped at McDonald's for dinner. After they were done eating, Eli was ready to go home and tell mom about it, he was already thrilled with his day so far.Eli was scared on the way up and looking out the window and seeing how far down on the side of the mountain he would land if they fell off the road so he kept reminding daddy to drive safe and no going over there.

After they got their tent all set up the first thing he did was find a big rock and put it in the tent.Jared said he loved going hiking and exploring all around. He would run from campsite to campsite talking to all the boys and pretending to play Capture the Flag with them. After it was dark he took his own flashlight and his dad and wanted to go exploring some more but once he realized that he was surrounded by the pitch black he picked up his pace and wanted to go back to the campsite (the kid has a great imagination but sometimes the lions, dinosaurs and monkeys get the best of him and he is pretty sure they are coming to get him).

Jared was kind enough to take of picture of how dirty his hands were that he used to eat his french fries with.He and the Goodman boy had a great time gathering up rocks and making a huge pile of them (the simple things ya know).Eli crashed hard at night. After they watched a movie for a few minutes in the tent Jared asked him if it was OK to turn it off and he actually said yes! He slept like a log all night long. He woke up at 5:30am and asked if it was time to get up and once Jared saw what time it was he told him no and to go back to sleep. Finally Jared had to wake him up at 7:30am because he was in the middle of fixing breakfast for the ward and didn't want him to freak out if he woke up and didn't see him.The rest of the day Eli continued to run around with all the boys and had to have his soccer ball with him. The only way Jared could get him to leave was to tell him we were going to go home to see Mommy. Yes!Emma and I tried to make the most of our weekend. She had dance pictures, then we ditched the twins with Aunt Caryn and Uncle Cade and went to dinner together and then her friend came over and spent the night so that she could actually play without Eli following them.

It was a great weekend for everyone! Eli is already looking forward to his next camp out and so are us girls (if the twins are potty-trained Jared will take them too - woo hoo).