took the boy out for his first overnight camping trip. He’s done some day trips with me at local camp grounds but nothing overnight. He expressed an interest in doing this a couple of months ago I guess my recent long distance hiking has sparked him <FINALLY>

Anyway I wanted something local to give him the out and I also had to work on his mother as she is not a fan of sleeping outdoors. Finally got her to crack a month ago and set this trip up. Hammock Camping baby the only way to camp!!!!

I kept him busy all day with about 3-4 miles of walking around the park through hiking and bike path trails. We worked on various life skill sets in fun and one-on-one learning experiences - compass navigation, wood processing for fire building, fire building, and knot tying. He’s 11 years old and he should have some exposure to these things.

He had a blast and he’s like me a ham for the camera. He wanted to do some special effects stuff so we came up with a couple of scenes and he was awesome at it.

In the end we packed up in the middle of the night and headed home. It was hot and muggy all day but he held out like a champ. At night it only dipped to 70*F so he was a bit clammy in the hammock. He passed out for about 2 hours but then couldn’t get back to bed. I chose a camp ground close to home so if he wanted to bail it wouldn’t be an issue.

He actually tried to tough it out when I gave him the out to leave and stayed in the hammock for another hour trying to cope with being a bit uncomfortable which I give him credit.

He said he wanted to bail and then said... hey what do we tell the people (people being you guys who are watching the videos).

I said we just tell them the truth do you want to make a quick video before we pack up???

Bumble, “yeah just let them know why we dont have morning video cause I want them to know we are ok” .... so friggin cute let me tell you.

So we packed up at 1am and got home at 2am. He must have felt really grimey because he wanted to take a shower at 2am... for the record he NEVER wants to take a shower. I have to side kick him in there every time so he must have felt pretty icky.

He did well. I’m proud of him I’m gonna give it another go at the same camp site just a little later in the season so he’s not so “icky” and he’s comfy at night.

Without further writing, The Bumble’s First Campout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo6gZehBLLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UssCTAEC1qU

Water Monkey & The Bumble