Campout and Kids Night Out

The Father & Sons campout was Friday night. The 12-14 year olds were making the burgers and it was apparently anyone who needed the cooking merit badge. From the looks of this picture they REALLY needed the cooking merit badge. But since they didn't eat until late the boys were starving and apparently ate very well. (I guess that's the secret!) Us girls at home picked a movie (Robin Hood!) and made homemade ice cream.

The boys spent a lot of time collecting sticks and pine straw to add to the fire and rocks for a rock collection. Over an hour past bedtime, Michael said he was really tired so Jim got them all in the tent. The boys "tried" to sleep but with all of the stimulation around of a new place and new noises it just wasn't happening. Jim, after a long week of 4:30am wakeup for seminary and some intense business issues... fell asleep. The next morning a friend told Jim that the boys unzipped the window on the tent and were flashing their flashlights at anyone they could see and yelling "Hey let us out of here. We're trapped!" again and again. Our friend said it was hilarious when he shined his flashlight in the tent on Jim totally asleep with the boys crawling all over him.

Jim and I were blessed with the Saturday treat of a lifetime. Some amazing, kind and brave friends offered to take the kids out in the late afternoon and out to dinner and games at Chuck E Cheese.

 

The kids had the time of their life!

 

 

Michael could not get over telling us how fun driving cars was!

 

 

Nicole was thrilled that she got to ride a horse, it was really cute how fun it was for her.

 

 

 

We've never done anything like this with the kids and they still have stars in their eyes (and their "guys" when the play are all going to Chuck E Cheese and having rides, etc)

 

To top it off they were treated to ice cream which Jake said was his favorite!

 

 Michael had eaten so much that he couldn't finish his ice cream (which must have been a lot of food that he ate since I'm not sure he's ever topped off before) but Nicole told me not to worry, she finished it for him sweet sister that she is :) The kids got home a little before bedtime, so after scripture study we put them right down. The kids were asleep literally within minutes after their big night out on the town :)

 

Diana got into Mike's treasured toy while they were away- the eye patch!

We decided she had a lot better chances staying bruise-free if the patch didn't cover her eye.

I have been craving steak like mad and Jim grilled this beautiful one for our dinner. Don't worry that is not my dinner plate haha. It was incredible to eat a meal in peace. For the last long while we have only hired babysitters to come after the kids are in bed since they can be a lot to handle. So to eat dinner with just little D who was so easy to manage and Jim and I could talk in peace... truly an incredible experience and such a blessing to us.

We got legos a few months ago and it has been fun to see the kids transition from using the how-to books to using their imagination to make different things. To keep it special (and keep D safe) we only let them play with them while Diana is napping.