Every camp needs a campfire. Kyle got the fire started first thing in the morning. And, of course, he has many eager and willing little helpers (David, Ammon and Michael)
Next, you need to have light to see in order to fix breakfast. Michael's motto for the camp (and life right now) is "I do it myself!" So Grandpa let Michael help pump the lantern after it had been lit. David and Donovan would have eager helped too if there had been more room around the latern.
Breakfast, on this morning, was breakfast burritos. But what a role reversal! Jared is doing the cooking and Tosha is working the power tools. You have to admit that they make a great team.
Our boys actually did prety good eating breakfast but some encouragement was still required. And my boys had to race to see who would get to sit by Ammon.
What is a Petersen outing without shooting guns. This trip we used about 2 1/2 boxes of .22 ammo so that everyone had plenty of opportunities to shoot. David was first in line but everyone else lined up too (except Tosha and Aleky).
Shooting the guns took some time so by noon everyone decided to take a break and eat lunch. Grandma wanted to make ice cream for dessert and her rule is that "if you want some ice cream you have to take a "TURN." These boys wanted some ice cream!
But once the ice cream is done what do you do with the bucket? Michael discovered the accoustic characteristics of the ice cream bucket.
When lunch had a chance to settle we turned to chopping wood. Jared started it all by trying to create wood for the fire and it spread from there. Everyone needed a chance to swing their axe. Michael and Aaron were a bit small to be trusted with such sharp tools and were given wood-stacking duty instead.
Once the great trees had fallen and been prepared for the fire the boys decided to explore the far reaches of our pond. David was the tour guide and Donovan and Ammon followed along. The rule was that you had to be able to see the tent (or you were too far away) and to stay out of the water (we didn't have the means of drying out multiple pairs of shoes). When David came back from exploring it was too much (everyone tried hard to control their laughter; under the circumstances he should have been in trouble but he fell all the way in the pond, not just his shoes).
After so much excitement all our boys needed a nap. And while the little ones slept the games continued. First came the log chopping contest...(I am so unworthy; Jared the Lumberjack can chop through the tree in 41 seconds, Kyle took a full 48 seconds, even Grandpa could do it in about 75 seconds - at a fatter end of the tree; it took me over 3 minutes!)
After so much excitement all our boys needed a nap. And while the little ones slept the games continued. First came the log chopping contest...(I am so unworthy; Jared the Lumberjack can chop through the tree in 41 seconds, Kyle took a full 48 seconds, even Grandpa could do it in about 75 seconds - at a fatter end of the tree; it took me over 3 minutes!)
After chopping trees down and chopping logs for the fire we decided to start throwing the trees just to see how far they would go. It took several attempts with several styles to determine that the hammer throw style worked the best (a golf swing had good results too). With each changing style the distance increased and now I don't remember who actually had the best overall throw.
After all the throws the log finally broke so a new game was created. There were two circles with a log in the middle. You got 3 points for hitting the log, 2 if your rock stopped inside the smaller circle, 1 point if your rock stopped inside the larger circle and 0 points for everything else. I finally found a game I could win (at least I was winning by 2 points after 3 tosses and then it started to rain putting us into a permanent rain delay).
The boys were not phased by the rain...they just moved the games inside the wall tent. But how do you keep 4 active boys from bouncing of the canvass walls of a tent?
So while the boys went crazy it was time to prepare dinner. And what good is dinner without some yummy dessert? (Smores didn't work because by this point the rain/hail was still falling and the firepit now had a moat of ice water; not so good for active boys to discover. So Grandma whipped up some nice chocolate pudding instead.)
The boys were not phased by the rain...they just moved the games inside the wall tent. But how do you keep 4 active boys from bouncing of the canvass walls of a tent?
The night came to a close as the rain poured down, alternating with hail. The pond moved about 10 feet closer to the wall tent and there were mud holes everywhere. We even discovered that our tent floor could double as a water bed! Our new tent held up pretty good but the tent doors started to leak under the relentless downpour. We hurried to get our kids in pjs and into their sleeping bags. Once they were bedded down for the night they went right to sleep, all tuckered out from the days activities! As I lay there, sleeping on and off, I listened to the rhythmic sound of the rain, later to turn to snow! But safe in the tent, in my warm sleeping bag, I could enjoy the continuous down pour.
What a full day!
