This week was full of camping and family fun. This is the second year that we went with a large group from the ward to go camping over spring break. Last year when we went, James was very young and Eliza was obsessed with mini doughnuts. This year was significantly easier than last year and we had a great time.
We left Monday afternoon after scrambling around all morning trying to get the last things in order. We went up to Lake Georgetown to Russell Park which is on the north side of the lake. People from our ward and our neighboring ward had reserved almost all of the spots on the tent camping loop so it was full of people that we knew. We set up camp and cooked dinner with our friends the Solters who came also. We made Texas Pioneer Pie (it was pi day!). We were going to make cobbler but we ran out of time. Monday night we had a large group family home evening lesson. One of the scouts from my troop put the program together and they had a few skits and then I gave the lesson. I’m sure there were people there that could have given a much better lesson than me, but I am good friends with the scouts, and I think they are comfortable asking me for things. It was a fun evening. Apparently, however, we got in trouble for being too loud and they asked us to disperse back to our camp sites. Eliza and James slept really well that night. It didn’t get too cold and we had a good night.
Tuesday we spent all day out camping. We played in the morning at the campsite and then in the afternoon we went down to the lake to play. They have a gravel beach that they built along the shore and we played there for a few hours. We had borrowed a kayak from another of our friends in the ward and I spent most of the time out on the kayak with the kids. I would hold them on my lap and we’d go out and paddle around. Last year when we tried to get Eliza on the water, she was terrified, but this year she absolutely loved it. She kept asking to go out again and again. She even wanted to try paddling by herself. She got it pretty good. She’d move the paddle back and forth, back and forth. I was so proud of her for being so brave and having such a good time. I took James out also and he had a good time. Sarah also took the kayak out and did really well. This was her first time doing it and she looked like a pro.
We ate dinner with the Solters again on Tuesday and then we made our peach cobbler. We had promised Eliza that we would roast marshmallows and have a fire but the kids were so exhausted that we had to do it while it was still light out after dinner. We had a good time with the marshmallows (although James wasn’t really a fan of the stickiness) and then read scriptures and put the kids down for bed. After the kids were down, Sarah and I played cards with some of my scouts. It was fun to be able to be camping with them and just be their friend and not have to be responsible for them.
Wednesday morning we packed up camp after breakfast and headed home. We had such a good time. This was totally our speed of a vacation. It could have been really stressful, but I was proud of Sarah and me for not losing our cool and just rolling with how things went. We need to get these kids out camping more often.
Thursday was our only normal day this week. I worked and then when I got home I prepared my gear for my Friday and Saturday scout training camp for my Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS) (since I obviously need an introduction!)
Friday and Saturday I was down in Kyle for IOLS. I was the patrol leader for my patrol and we had a pretty good training session. I’ve been doing scouts for so long that I probably could have taught the course myself but I learned a few things. I mainly wanted to go so that I could check the box that I have been trained finally. I met some other LDS scout people from our stake and started to get to know them a bit which was really good.
Today we had our ward conference. This was the first time we’ve really been able to hear our stake president speak because we were out of town when he was sustained and we didn’t get to hear him. I liked him a lot and think he will be a great president. We made it to choir after almost sleeping through it again so that was good. So now we’re ready for next week which should be as normal as things ever are around here.