Jake and I went to the fathers and sons camp out this weekend. It was his first time camping, and he was in heaven. Because I had to work earlier that day, we didn't get there in until after dark, but he thoroughly enjoyed taking stuff to and from the car. He kept calling the tent our "castle", because Barb and Jerry have a little castle tent for him to play with while he's there. One of the times were walking back to our car to get more stuff, I saw a mouse, and told Jake to come over. Unfortunately, he didn't see the mouse, but every time we walked past that spot, he said "mouse sleeping?" Right in the same area, there was a dried up ditch that he liked going up-and-down. He really likes running up and down hills, and will say "down da hill" and "up da hill". He also thought the campfire was cool, but was pretty cautious about it, because he knew it was very hot. Andrea has trained him really well what he is supposed to be afraid of because it's hot.
He and I stopped and got KFC on the way, which we ate in our little camping chairs next to the tent after we put it all together and moved all our stuff. We went over to the fireside by the mission president. It was a nice little message. Jake was having more fun throwing dirt at me then listening, but it was fun.
This whole time, from when we first arrived at the campsite, it was dark outside. Jake was having a blast carrying around a flashlight. It was really nice having him hold it as I put our tent together in the dark, and we moved all our stuff from the car to the tent. He was truly in heaven when I pulled out my laser pointer. He thought that was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. And all the seven-year-olds were incredibly jealous, I don't think they could believe that this two-year-old had such a cool thing. Note that it was a green laser, which at least at this point in time, are a lot more rare compared to the commonly used red ones. I was a little worried someone from the stake young men's presidency was going to come over and have a little chat with me about how lasers were dangerous, but it never happened.
After the fireside, Jake can I returned back to the tent. He wasn't ready for bed, but thought it would be fun to hang out in there. He then proceeded to eat most of our entire bag of caramel and cheese popcorn, Chicago mix, that after a couple of kernels he decided he absolutely loved. When I first heard about Chicago mix popcorn, I thought it sounded super nasty, but since we used to live in the Chicago area, I figured I had to try it. I'm very grateful that I did! And apparently Jake is grateful too!
We took a few more trips around with the laser. We spent a little bit of time talking with the Zimmermans, and walking around the campsite with them. Brigham, an eight year old, also really thought Jake's laser was cool, and he persuaded Jake to let him play with the laser for a few minutes which was a miracle. It is a pretty good evidence of Jake's improving social skills. He is getting along a lot better with people, and really seeking out friends.
Jake was a little sad we had to go to bed, and he crawled up in a ball in the very corner of the tent, not wanting to sleep on his nice mattress with lots of blankets. He didn't end up going to bed till around 11:15 though, so I think he had a pretty good evening. Fortunately, he fell asleep before I did, so I was able to put him on his mattress and tuck him into a large quantity of blankets. He woke me up maybe two or three times throughout the night and needed a little bit of attention, mostly he stayed asleep though. He does move a lot in his sleep.
The next morning, we ate a nice breakfast provided by the stake and did some more exploring. Jake threw rocks into the reservoir, which he thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to see how excited he was just to throw a few little stones into the water. There are mostly leaves right by the bank, so we had to walk up the trail little bit to get rocks, but I guess they give us more steps for the day.
Jake again enjoyed packing up the car. He really wanted both times to ride on top of his mattress instead of in his car seat, but obviously that's not doable. We had a really nice time together, and I am grateful that we had the chance to come. It's really nice spending good quality time with little Jake by himself.
