Father Son Campout

So, this is Scott here.....a rare poster of the Mortensen Family blog. BUT, I had to share the experience that Will and I had last weekend. We went on our very first Father-and-Son camp out! It was a blast. I have sour memories of Father-and-Son outings just because the one I remember was at a ranch in Idaho and I stepped on a rusty nail, ended up with scar tissue in my foot, and like 10 years later had to have surgery to fix it (freak accident, I know)!

Anyway, Will and I stayed in a HUGE tent with 7 other people, and let me tell you about the experience.....

It all started with us getting to the campsite by about 8:00pm. Close your eyes and picture 300 men and boys running around like chicken with their heads cut off. Then picture that until about 11:30 at night! Will and I got in the GINORMOUS tent around 9:30 and laid out our sleeping arrangements, which is key in this story because I forgot any sort of matress or pad to sleep on. I put my sleeping bag next to the corner of the tent in hopes that Will would stay warmer being next to me and someone else......which from above you can see this obviously worked (man I am smart). Then it was time for bed. Close your eyes again and picture this, Scott changing Will's dirty diaper in the dark....sweet experience. We finally got situated and as I lay down I realize that not only is my hip strategically situated on top of a huge root under our tent but my head is also enjoy a comfy rock pillow!!! On top of that I realize that the corner I chose to sleep in was the only corner that wasn't on flat ground. I was sliding right to the edge of the tent. And so the night went, sleeping for 10 minutes, waking up for 30 minutes to rub feeling back into my numb hip, sleeping for 10 minutes, waking up for 30..... In the end I calculated that I probably got around 3 hours of sleep. BUT, don't worry Will made up for my lack of sleep by snoozing away through the tent clean-up, and packing. Once again close your eyes and picture this, A 12 man tent the size of our first apartment with one little tike named Will sleeping in the middle of it. Will was fast asleep in his cozy little sleeping bag with his head resting on a, you guessed it, Dinosaur pillow until 8:00am. Oh what I would give to be a heavier sleeper, or for some Tylenol PM, or for the ability to plan and remember mattresses!!!
In the end, I have to say, we had a BLAST! I even warmed up Will's milk by pouring water into the reused peach can from the dutch oven peach cobbler, boiling the water over the fire, and then placing the sippy cup into the hot water for a few minutes!
Tired dad with my future pyro (look at that stare into the fire)! Thanks Will for a wonderful first ever, Father-and-Sons outing. I look forward to many more!