Fathers and Sons Outing

Shot of Lake Mead from Our Campsite

On May 20th, 2011, our ward had its annual father and sons outing.  This year we again went out to Kingman Wash, which is on the southern end of Lake Mead on the AZ side.  We had learned the day before the campout that Jeremy, one of Rhett's best pals, would have to come late as his dad was going to have to work until about 8pm on Friday night.  We ended up being able to take him with us which worked out great as he and Rhett always have a big time together.  As we pulled away from the house, the girls (Mom and Soleil) seemed to be really struggling to look sad at our departure.  They had a fun girls' night out planned, and wanted us to get out of there so they could start the party.

Obligatory Pyromania

The boys and I traveled the 30 minutes or so that it takes to get to Kingman Wash, found good camping spot, and quickly set up camp.  They didn't want to lose any swimming or hiking time, so we hustled.  As soon as we were done, the three boys went hiking.  There were relatively steep hills on both sides, though one side is more steep and slippery with fewer rocks, and the other side a little less steep and pretty much solid rock.  They went up the slippery side.   Jesse only made it a little ways and decided his time would be better spent  down at the lake.  He loves being in the water and was determined to get in there and pull out a fish.

Rhett and Jeremy, his Best Pal--With Pocket Knives!
They Actually Both Did Make it Back With
All of Their Fingers

 Meanwhile, the scare of the event happened.  I had gone back up the camp to do something, and as I turned to head back down to the lake to watch Jesse, I noticed some boys had reached the top of the hill Rhett and Jeremy had scaled a short time earlier.  I'd mentioned that there were few rocks on that side, but there were some, and they were much more prone to break lose and roll down.  Well, they did.  The boys up and the top had knocked a rather large rock (a few feet across, and probably a few hundred pounds) loose and it begin rolling down the hill, picking up speed as it went.  At the bottom, directly in the path of the rolling rock, was another boy who was just beginning the climb (maybe 50 feet up from the bottom).  Because of the steepness of the hill, he was using all fours to climb, and had his eyes on the hill directly in front of him rather than looking up.  I began shouting at him, but was on the opposite side of the little valley from him (maybe a few hundred yards), so he didn't seem to hear me.  Finally, he stopped and looked my way, but did not move out of the way.  Then, his dad, who was at the bottom of the hill where their camp was, recognized what was happening and yelled at him to run.  He did, but right in the path of the rock.  I don't know how it missed him, but it did, rolled right by him, and into his camp, rolling right out around their tent, which had people in it.  We were extremely fortunate that no one got hurt, and we stressed to all the kids after that to be very careful about knocking rocks down.

Too Sexy for My Shirt

Rhett and Jeremy were back before too long, and they joined Jesse in the lake.  I think Jesse chased minnows in the shallows the entire time.  If anyone has ever tried to catch minnows with their bare hands, they know how hard that is, but it didn't deter him.  Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn't stop.

Finally, they got hungry enough to stop and come back to camp for something to eat.  I had brought MRE's out so they could eat "soldier food" and see what it was like for the men and women out defending our country.  I think they were only moderately impressed.  We had a good time getting them out, putting water in the little "ovens" and then 

watching them heat for a few minutes, but in the end, while they taste okay, I could swear some of the fuel from the oven gets into them as they have a "fuel-like" aftertaste.  However, we had a good time with it.

Too Sexy for My Clothes!

I had also brought a magnesium fire starter kit to see if we could build a fire like Bear Gryllis. Jeremy and I worked on it for a while, but finally decided to give Chris Naylor's lighter a try--it worked better.  The Naylor's  had set up camp next to us, and we had a good time with them.  He had bought a bunch of glow sticks and other things that glowed at the dollar store, so he was the most popular guy in camp as he handed them out to the boys to play with.
Then we started the fire with his lighter and the kindling the boys had gathered.  They were very excited about keeping the fire going, but their kindling was burning too quickly.  So, one of them went down to Troy Thornton's trailer and absconded with a big log. It was unsplit, so we didn't think it would catch.  They dumped it in the middle of their fire, and then proceeded to work for 30 to 40 minutes throwing grass and little sticks on the fire to try to get the big log to take.  We continued to tell  them that it wasn't going to work, but they showed us.  They finally got that thing smoldering, and I'll be darned if it wasn't still smoldering in the morning.  It never really took off and burned, but it stayed hot for a long time.  They were pretty proud of themselves.

Fun in the Lake

After it got dark, we sat around the fire and visited for a while.  Leonard, Jeremy's dad, had arrived, so we got to hear about the event he worked on for school that night.  Then we decided to get to bed.  Leonard had brought a cot so he was going to sleep out under the stars on that (by the way, before I go camping again, I will own one of those--more on that later).  This left room in Jeremy's tent for Rhett, so it was just Jesse and I  in ours.  I wish I could say it was a good night's sleep, but I had brought a sleeping back that is great for backpacking as it only weighs a pound.  However, it has NO padding.  I was basically laying on the ground, and had to unkink every one of my vertebrae as I tried to roll over and climb out of bed the next morning.

Home Sweet Home (Thankfully, only for a night)

Jesse, however, apparently slept VERY well, as he popped up at about 5:30 am with wide eyes and was raring to go for another day of fun.  I was a little less enthusiastic, though I did want to get up for a single reason:  to throttle the teenage kid who had climbed up into the rocks on our side of the valley and was then shouting to his friend that he was "up here" and to "come up."  He might as well been shouting into a bull horn.  I learned another valuable lesson (for the umpteenth time) not to say things that you don't want your kids repeating.  As this kid was shouting to his friend across the valley during the "pre-6am hour," I muttered something about "stupid kid" and a great need for him to "shut up."  Jesse immediately turned toward the tent screen (which was open) and shouted at the top of his not so small lungs for the kid to shut up.  Once again I was reminded that they are like little tape recorders.  Got to watch what you say.

We had a fun morning doing more of the same stuff (swimming, chasing minnows, and hiking) as we'd done the night before, and then finally headed home.  We'd had a lot of fun and I love my boys and the opportunity to get out in the out doors with them.  We also all love our girls, and were happy to get home to them

Sunset on Lake Mead