Fathers and Sons

Jon and Matthew went to our stake's fathers and sons' campout last night. Seth is still a bit young and still nurses at night, so he couldn't come yet (we're counting on him going next year).

As usual, Jon forgot the camera. He took some pictures using his Blackberry, but some of them are blurry because it doesn't do so well in low light.

There was a sand/gravel volleyball pit that Matthew used as a writing slate. Jon helped a little to make sure his name came out well.



Matthew got his first experience with a tether ball. He didn't quite figure out that the ball would come back around to him if he just stood there, so most of his playing involved running around the pole in a circle chasing the ball (his circles invoked images of a dog chasing its tail).



They were at the same campground this year as they were last year. Matthew really has a good memory--he frequently brought up things that happened last year and things that he couldn't do by himself last year. He was very proud that he could do a lot of things by himself this year, like climbing on top of the tires and lay in the hammock.



As you can see, they had to hike a long way from the car to the place where they pitched the tent. At first, Jon estimated that it was about 5 feet from the car, but on closer inspection the tent was actually more like 7 or 8 feet from the car.


Matthew loved being in the tent. If you look closely, you can see his sleeping bag is between the two air mattresses. While he was sleeping in the night, his sleeping bag slid off his air mattress a number of times. Each time, he would wake up screaming that he needed help. So much for a good night's rest...


Overall, they didn't have to "rough it" too much. They ate McDonald's for dinner in the closest town, and the stake provided breakfast this morning. Jon was even able to email Julie from his Blackberry to let her know that Matthew's bedtime prayer included a very nice request that Julie be kept safe and happy while he was away. It seems kind of amazing that Jon could email the substance of the prayer to Julie and have it arrive there in an instant. That also gave us perspective that we are blessed to be able to communicate with Heavenly Father at any moment from anywhere.