(Michael blogging...) Three weeks ago (yes...it was that long ago - I'm a busy guy) Emma and Carter and I packed up our bags and headed out to Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast for their first foray into Dad & Me Camp.
For the uninitiated, Dad & Me Camp is a Friday through Sunday event for dads and their kids who are in the age range of Kindergarten through 2nd grade. Harry and I did this camp for all three years he was eligible and we loved it. Harry, of course, graduated out of the camp last year - but Emma and Carter were able to go for the first time...which means that I get to go again, too!
We did all sorts of fun stuff like making nametags and paper, going out on Smith Lake in a rowboat, feeding and caring for the now-retired donkeys, lots of beach play, campfires, a hike up and down the pygmy trails (which they did with surprising aplomb and zeal), and, of course, the rope swing. The bugs and
mosquitoes were not too bad and the weather was great.Meals were the typical camp fair - but passable enough to get us through the week. We stopped off, of course, at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way there and the way home - both now to be established as firm tradition. I tried to get Emma and Carter to try something other than Mint Chocolate Chip - but then reminded myself that I was getting Rocky Road again for the umpteenth time. So - we all ate our ice cream with contentment.
Both Emma and Carter are stoked to go back next year - as am I. They talked all about it on the ride home. Well - at least for the first 10 minutes of the ride home - because they crashed out immediately before we even got out of the city of Tillamook. Can't say I blame them - they played hard!
