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Cub Scout Campout
By krmac | October 20, 2008
This weekend we took Brady down to Garner State Park for the Fall Campout. This was our first camping trip as a family and we had so much fun! I grew up camping so this brought back so many good memories for me. We took Brady out of school early on Friday and headed out of town around 11am. We stopped in San Antonio for lunch then headed out Highway 90 to Sabinal then up to Concan. For me, we just couldn’t get there fast enough and the kids were really anxious too. They did really good on the drive there and they both had their headphones and music so it was nice and quiet in the car most of the way there! As we pulled off onto the main road leading to Garner, there was a certain energy in the car, I loved it, we were getting out as a family into nature. Scott let me go into headquarters and check in, a job that in my childhood was reserved for my dad. I felt like a big girl getting to be the one checking in and picking out our campsite! We got all checked in and ventured down to find our site, it was such a pretty drive through the park to our camping area. Turns out we were one of the first Wolf families there so we pretty much decided we weren’t going to settle for the one I had chosen from the map, so we checked out others and decided #28 was pretty awesome. So Scott drove back up to tell headquarters and me and the kids immediately headed towards the river to check things out. The kids almost immediately begged to get in, which I would have considered but I didn’t bring anything for them to get wet in, plus the water being spring-fed was cold! They probably would not have spent much time in it at all. Soon Scott was back and it was time to set up camp. He got the tent set up very fast and I got our beds made up and everything else unloaded. About that time our leader, Terry, and his kids arrived so Brady and Charlie took off to the river and we relaxed a little around our campsite. Within a few hours more families started to show up and pretty soon there was our group of boys running around wild from campsite to campsite and down to the water. It was so neat seeing them far from home, bonding and spending time with one another.
That evening we cooked Kiolbasa sausage on the grill and soon realized our site was being invaded by skunks!!! They were very tame and didn’t scare away too easily. Brady thought it was cool of course and pretty soon word had spread that we had skunks. So Brady went running off and soon returned with his group of “skunk hunters”. The boys thought they were going to be tough and scare them away, but in the end a very persistent Scott drove them back out away from our site. Scott even had to go face to face with one when we realized that our tent was open! After about 30 minutes, the skunks went peacefully. We were pretty early to bed that night as we were exhausted from our early day. Brady was very comfortable with sleeping in the tent and fell fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Kacey on the other hand took some persuasion to stay in her sleeping bag. She kept asking to crawl into Daddy’s but I soon got her settled and off to sleep she went.
We woke up to a beautiful but cold Saturday morning sunrise and got the day going. I cooked some pancakes but soon realized that the pan I had bought was not holding up. The teflon coating was coming off into the food! Boo! After some frustration, I managed to get a few more made and was able to feed the kids. Right after breakfast Scott and Brady left for the almost 4 mile hike with the 2 wolf dens. Kacey and I grabbed the camera and some water and walked down to my friend Kelli’s campsite to see what was going on. So we decided to take the girls (her daughter is the same age as Kacey) on a short walk around our camp area and explore around. We made our way to the big pavilion, and it turned out the hikers hadn’t left yet so I was able to snap a few photos before they finally went on their way. So we continued on our way too, walking and talking with the girls doing the same, it was so cute! I am so glad Kacey had a friend there, I think they both really enjoyed it.
Later on that day all the scouts met up at the basketball court area for some fun and games. Brady’s favorite was tug-o-war and the boys were super competitve! The parents were getting all into it and pretty soon it ended up being dads against boys! The boys really put up a good fight and of course the dads let the boys win.
Saturday evening was the big campfire and cookout for everyone put on by our packleaders. After enjoying hamburgers and hotdogs it was on to the skits and joke telling. Each den had to perform a skit and all of them were really funny and they all did a really good job. After all of the scout festivites were over, we headed back to camp to relax a bit. The exhaustion was really starting to take over but I think we all just ignored it.
After the sun had been down for a bit, Scott and I took the kids out in the dark with our flashlights and ventured around. The sky was crystal clear and the air crisp as we walked around away from the lights and sounds of the other campers. Kacey got a bit nervous but settled down once we told her Daddy was right there to protect her! We saw a skunk down by the river and scarred an owl out of a big tree. I wanted to get some shots of the stars and I wanted the kids to experience a star filled sky that you could never see being in the city. The mily way was so vivid it was just incredible to look straight up and get lost in the night sky. Brady was in awe and I think really blown away by seeing all those stars! On our way back to camp I had an idea for Scott and the kids to “paint” me a picture by shining their flashlights on a big cypress tree down by the water. I did a long shutter photograph as they “painted” in the scence with their lights. The result was pretty cool and something I will see and always remember as all four of us having made together. After that Brady was saying he really wanted to go to sleep and he wasnt kidding because as soon as we got back to camp, he told us goodnight. Kacey went to sleep just as easily. I had tucked her in and Scott and I sat outside at the table chatting and talking about our big day. Then we hear a sweet little voice saying “goodnight everyone”….by the time I got to the tent, she was out like a light!
Sunday we woke to another bright, cold morning. Everyone slowly started emerging from their tents and soon the sounds of giggling, hyper little boys filled the air. We gathered our things and packed up and hit the road pretty early. We were a little dissapointed as we had packed bacon and eggs to cook but since our pan bit the dust, we had no way to cook our breakfast. It was ok though, that small thing wasn’t going to dampen our spirits. Although I did have to apologize to my hubby who tried to talk me into getting a set of cast iron pans and I said no way because they were heavy. I wanted teflon. Lesson learned! On the way out we stopped at the entrance and I got the kids’ picture in front of the Garner State Park sign. Then it was time to head back east toward home. We grabbed a bite to eat in San Antonio again and managed to get home around 2pm.
We had an amazing, memorable, fun-filled weekend and I can’t wait to get the kids out camping again real soon!
Here’s the link for all of our photos from the weekend (there’s alot of them!)
http://albums.phanfare.com/themacfarlands/2875254#imageID=50325239
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