Kangatopia

After I dropped Bear off with his dad and got home yesterday, I partially unpacked the car and tried to clean the tent. I showered. Then, I slept. Spending the night on the cold ground isn’t really something I’m acclimated towards anymore. So, the tent is sitting in my living room, my shoes are in the process of drying out after the scrubbing they got, Bear’s socks are showing just a little less mud than yesterday, but they’re still heavily stained and we’re both enthusiastically awaiting the next time we can load up the car and head out to a campsite.

Before we go on another trip, I need to purchase an air mattress and good camp chairs. Those may seem like frills, but oh, they’re so necessary.

Bear took out his brand new fishing pole on Saturday, and down we all went to the fishing pond. Bear really got into it. Somebody brought big, fat, long earthworms and the dads graciously baited all of our hooks. One of the dads spent a long time with Bear teaching him how to cast his line and other basic techniques. I held someone else’s pole while she went to do something else, and found myself with a fish (which we let go, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the hook out of it beforehand). Later, we went on a tour of an old farm that sat on the property of the state park, and we hiked.

The Pack dinner was a big deal of smoked brisket, beans, potato salad, chips and s’mores for dessert. One of the dads built a fire at our den’s campsite, and later after dinner the adults in our den all sat around it and talked while the boys and some of their sisters played flashlight tag. We crawled into our tents and sleeping bags at around 10pm, and the boys were up like a shot at first light. Our den took a long hike through the woods after breakfast, then we broke camp and headed home after taking our own short, self-guided tour of the old farm.

I am so glad we went. Bear would have missed out otherwise, and I think this memory will be valuable for him. I hope to be a part of forming several more just like it.