Our stake had it's Father and Son Outing a few weeks ago. When I first told Josh about it, he didn't want to go. The closer it got, the more I tried to get him excited about it, but with no luck. The day before the campout I decided to set the tent up in our backyard to see if that would motivate him at all. That did the trick! He and Lexie played in it all day. Josh was now ready and excited to go camping.
The next day, we threw our stuff in the truck and headed out. Not too far down the road, Josh started crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "There's gonna be bears!" I spent the rest of the drive trying to convince him that there weren't any bears where we were going, and right before we got to the campground, he believed me. However, as we pulled in to the campground, there was a big warning sign on the side of the road with a picture of a bear. Unfortunatley, Josh saw it and said, "See, Dad, I told you there were bears!" as he started crying again.
I set up the tent while Josh kept an eye out for bears. I guess he didn't see any, because he became less and less scared and more and more happy. We ate dinner, sat by the campfire, and Josh played with the other boys. He had a blast! He did not want to go to bed. I finally dragged him back to the tent around 10:30 (his regular bedtime is 8:00) and he quickly fell asleep. So did I.
Around midnight, I woke up to hear someone talking a few tents away. I heard them say, "Do you have any food in your tent? There's a bear in camp!" Then he went to the next tent and asked the same thing. I could hear him getting closer to our tent, and as his footsteps approached, I kept saying to myself faster and faster, "Please don't come to our tent, please don't come to our tent." Then our tent starts shaking, and a voice outside says, "Hey! There's a bear in the camp. Do you guys have any food in your tent?" "No," I said, waiting for the crying to start. Luckily, Josh slept through the whole thing.
I wasn't too concerned about the bear, but since Josh hadn't woken up, I decided to scoot him closer the door of the tent so I could be closer to the middle. He didn't know any better anyway.
I was a little bit worried how he'd react in the morning when everyone would be talking about the bear who came through camp last night. When we woke up, all the garbage cans were knocked over and everyone was talking about the bear. Josh didn't seem phased at all. He followed a group of boys around who were looking for bear tracks. Then they found a hole in the fence where the bear had climbed through. Josh was excited to show it to me. All in all, Josh had a very good time, in spite of and even because of the bear.
We are planning to go camping again this weekend with our family. Josh seems like he's excited to go. But I got a little worried the other day when we were talking about our upcoming trip and he said to me, "Dad, is there going to be any rattle snakes?"
The next day, we threw our stuff in the truck and headed out. Not too far down the road, Josh started crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "There's gonna be bears!" I spent the rest of the drive trying to convince him that there weren't any bears where we were going, and right before we got to the campground, he believed me. However, as we pulled in to the campground, there was a big warning sign on the side of the road with a picture of a bear. Unfortunatley, Josh saw it and said, "See, Dad, I told you there were bears!" as he started crying again.
I set up the tent while Josh kept an eye out for bears. I guess he didn't see any, because he became less and less scared and more and more happy. We ate dinner, sat by the campfire, and Josh played with the other boys. He had a blast! He did not want to go to bed. I finally dragged him back to the tent around 10:30 (his regular bedtime is 8:00) and he quickly fell asleep. So did I.
Around midnight, I woke up to hear someone talking a few tents away. I heard them say, "Do you have any food in your tent? There's a bear in camp!" Then he went to the next tent and asked the same thing. I could hear him getting closer to our tent, and as his footsteps approached, I kept saying to myself faster and faster, "Please don't come to our tent, please don't come to our tent." Then our tent starts shaking, and a voice outside says, "Hey! There's a bear in the camp. Do you guys have any food in your tent?" "No," I said, waiting for the crying to start. Luckily, Josh slept through the whole thing.
I wasn't too concerned about the bear, but since Josh hadn't woken up, I decided to scoot him closer the door of the tent so I could be closer to the middle. He didn't know any better anyway.
I was a little bit worried how he'd react in the morning when everyone would be talking about the bear who came through camp last night. When we woke up, all the garbage cans were knocked over and everyone was talking about the bear. Josh didn't seem phased at all. He followed a group of boys around who were looking for bear tracks. Then they found a hole in the fence where the bear had climbed through. Josh was excited to show it to me. All in all, Josh had a very good time, in spite of and even because of the bear.
We are planning to go camping again this weekend with our family. Josh seems like he's excited to go. But I got a little worried the other day when we were talking about our upcoming trip and he said to me, "Dad, is there going to be any rattle snakes?"
3 comments:
Ha! I can just see you scooting him closer to the door, Eric, so you can be safe in the middle! Just kidding. That's a funny story--I'm sure my girls would've reacted the same way, although she probably would've woken up during the night and we would've spent the rest of the night in the car. Actually, had I been in that situation, I think I would've wanted to spend the rest of the night in the car!!!
I would have peed my pants if there was a bear in our camp! You're brave! Great story :)
super scary if you ask me! glad you were all safe!
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