Father & Son's Outing

This year was Parker & my first real Father & Son's outing. I really had a great time as Parker learned all about camping with his dad.I think we've read the Mercer Mayer book "Just Me and My Dad" about a hundred times and we were excited to rough it about 2 miles from our house at River Bend Park. 

 

Probably the best part was Friday night when we did all the games after dinner. First all the young men 19 and under lined up for a "Future Missionary" picture. It was pretty impressive to see all those excited young men together at the camp with their dads. Afterwards we played a game where the dad and the son each stand on one leg and hop around supporting each other and try to knock over other teams. We obviously weren't going to win, but Parker had a great time and actually lasted quite a while.

      

After the photo & hopping game, we had to go to several stations to get our scores for other games. Parker did pretty good at the whiffle ball batting station. I was surprised that he almost got a pretty good hit on his first try and on our second try hit the ball pretty far. He wasn't able to skip a rock in the river at all, but it was fun to just be down by the american river bank chucking rocks into the current. After the games, we went to the campfire that started at 9. Parker was extremely tired, but we busted out our camping treats we got at the gas station on our way there. Gummy worms & Mike & Ike's! He was fascinated by all the stars you could see, even just miles from our house. He didn't pay much attention to the speakers, but he did notice the missionary themed songs we sang, and sang along to "I hope they call me on a mission". 

It was pretty exciting to have these moments with my son. I love to spend time with Parker, and can already see at his young age what a great man he can become.