Ward Campout!

We took the kids on the ward campout this year. It was a lot of fun! Nyah gloried in the dirty dirt everywhere and Gabe became the absolute best 4-year old fisherman in the world! Now those are just he highlights... there was also homemade snowcones at the campfire along with magic tricks, homemade ice cream, and of course smores. Before the campfire the kids all put glow sticks on like bones and walked around the campground like a bunch of skeletons! The campers LOVED it!!! Gabe proudly wore a glow hat that he loved. I have to add here that half way through the walk around, Gabe told me that is was really late and he was tired (in an almost accusatory manner!) and that he needed to go to bed. When we got back to the campsite Daddy could not talk him into staying up for the campfire even! That little boy knows when he needs to go to sleep!! :) Nyah was already sleeping by then too - both kiddies got to bed pretty early for camping and slept well all night!The next morning donned early - as it usually does camping. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage cooked by the bishopric before heading off to the lake beach to fish. Gabe has been itching to go fishing ever since Aunt Erin's family gave him a real fishing pole for Christmas. His little pole even came with a small, plastic, orange fish to use tied to your line to practice casting. Gabe has pored over the packaging and exclaimed excitedly about that fish for months. So you can imagine his reaction when Eric went to show him how to cast the first time and off flew the fish! (Not a good fishing knot Daddy?!!) To say Gabe was disappointed would be an understatement of the year. He was DEVASTATED. Absolutely beside himself. It was painful to behold, I must say. So what else could Eric do but swim out in the glacial water and try to find it... Unfortunately that didn't work. It was far too deep and murky and to be honest, Eric was having a difficult time catching his breath to dive in the freezing water! But seeing Daddy out searching made Gabe want to join so in he went! Brrrrrr!! Nyah did her best to completely douse herself in water as well. My goodness, I discovered I should have packed swim suits! :)After Gabe recovered from his lost plastic fish, I tied a key onto the end of his line instead (from Eric's key chain - a fitting punishment for losing the fish I thought, haha!) and Gabe practiced casting for a good hour with it. It was incredible to watch. He got the hang of it so fast and was absolutely in the "zone"! He waded out to this log and climbed on and sat there casting and casting away. It was so cute! After about an hour he came back to the beach and asked me why the fish weren't eating the key!! I was shocked that he had somehow misunderstood that he was practicing, not really fishing! Poor little guy! So we talked about how fish don't like to eat keys, they usually like to eat yummy things like worms. :) He seemed ok to keep practicing but I can't wait for him to actually go fishing and catch something!
The scene in the car driving home. Gabe was happily watching a movie next to her. What a fun weekend!