Boy's Camp for All of Us

Peanut and Daddy-o have been going to the camp for the Young Men at church for the past few years, but this year, I got to join them as the nature specialist for the hikes! The three of us spent the week camping near Lassen Volcanic NP, and while Daddy-o barely left the campground, Peanut and I went on adventures each day in the area around us.

There are beautiful hikes in the area and I was really glad that I got to go to McCloud Falls with the youngest group.

We hiked from the lower falls to the other 2 and had a fabulous day that ended with most of the kids jumping into the lowest pool.

The next day, I got to hike with Peanut's group and we climbed Lassen Peak. 

It was a little crazy with the snow (first time I've used crampons), but a fun adventure for the boys.

And even though the hike was pretty challenging, I was proud of all the boys. 

A couple of the leaders did a great job encouraging the ones who were struggling and got them all to the top.

This kid is such a great hiker these days. He did end up with a headache at the top, probably because of the altitude, but he did it.

One of the main things I was in charge of were the night hikes. We went to the lava tubes that were just outside our campground, learned a little about UV fluorescence, and enjoyed finding all the things in the area, like rocks, insect trails, scorpions, and moss. The kids had a lot of fun and two of the groups found so many scorpions!

My other job was doing some nature journaling with the youngest two groups. I wish we'd had time with the oldest group, too, but our hike took the whole day. But I loved how into it some of the kids got, and leaders, too. And I had a couple of the leaders tell me that they appreciated the reminder to not always just focus on getting to the destination, but to look around and slow down.

Along with hiking, Peanut did a 26-mile mountain bike ride one day, a ropes course, and had a few hours at waterfront where they cliff jumped at Bernie Falls, went knee boarding, and did tug-of-war in kayaks. 

I think they all had a pretty great week trying new things.

Peanut brought a friend along this year, and C said that it was the best week of his life. He even got up at the testimony meeting and bore his testimony about getting to learn about God and make new friends. It was pretty cool to be a part of that.

And then there's Daddy-o, who spends the whole week cooking for these boys.

And the boys are very appreciative of it. I don't think they can ever really understand how much work goes into the food part of camp, but they do love it and are very loud in their gratitude. 

He even planned for the couple of birthdays that happened up at camp this year, which included our guest. The boys loved getting cake the first night. They pretty much loved every meal, with the tri tip and mashed potato night finishing off a great week. I don't know if Daddy-o wants to do it again--4 years in the kitchen, and the last 2 at a camp without an actual kitchen, might be his limit, but he's given it his all while he's done it.

Happy 15th, Peanut!

It's crazy that our baby is only one year away from a driver's license! He's taken high school in stride, is getting excellent grades and keeping up with his schedule mostly on his own. He got himself up all year, for seminary class before school, and swim practice even earlier than that, and walks home every day without complaining about it. He's still reading and writing at home, working on his own projects, and even tried his hand at running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign this year which has been quite the experience.

He had school on his birthday, which is a first for him, so we saved the party for later, but his D & D group came over and they spent a few hours fighting goblins.

We love this kiddo!

Spotlight on Peanut

Peanut has been back in school the past couple of weeks, busy with classes and swim practice. He doesn't seem to have much homework this semester, at least so far, which is great since he's been busy with a new book series that a friend recommended, and D & D. His D & D group started meeting again and he's loving it. They've been using the new one-shots that he got for Christmas and seem to be geting the hang of how it all works.

He still has a little time for exploring with me, too. 

We went to the Mushroom Madness event at Sycamore Grove the other day.

Found some fun mushrooms,

And really enjoyed seeing everyone else's finds, too.

They had microscopes and experts and identification books on hand to look at everything that people brought back after the couple of hours of hunting in the park.

We saw a few new ones, and learned a little about some of the common mushrooms found locally. It felt like we were homeschooling again for an afternoon. I'm so glad that he's doing well in school, but I'm also glad when we can sneak in some outdoor learning, too.

Belated Birthday Celebration

It only took us 6 weeks to reschedule Peanut's birthday party this year. He was sick the week of his actual birthday, so we postponed his party. And with the end of the school year and all the prep for church camps, this weekend was the first chance that we had to celebrate.

He had a few friends come to the pool to swim, play some games, and have dinner.

The kids had fun, and it ended up being the best night for it--really warm, but there's so much shade around the pool, it was pleasant in and out of the pool. And there were a couple other families there, too, so it felt like a real community pool. We barely saw anyone all last season, so it was fun to be there when it was being used.

It's a good group of boys. I'm glad he has kind friends.

Peanut's been 14 for awhile now, and it's almost starting to seem normal. In a lot of ways, he really is growing up and it's fun to see the changes over time.

Boys Camp, 2025: Lassen Edition

The young men from church did something a little different for camp this year. They've had a challenge getting a traditional campground the past few years and decided to book a few group sites this year near Lassen National Park.

They planned hikes, mountain biking, kayaking and swimming for each of the groups.

And from all reports, the boys had a fantastic time.

Peanut's group didn't end up getting to hike in Lassen, but they did hikes each day at various places in the area.

Burney Falls was a popular destination.

It's a fun hike.

They also hiked a cinder cone volcano one day, and visited the lava tubes in the area.

They spent time at the waterfront as well, kayaking and playing. Peanut caught a lizard.

Back in camp, they also had a card games, lock picking, guns, and crafts. Peanut was really good at picking the most difficult lock--not sure what that means for his future, but hope he uses his superpower for good!

And then, there was Daddy-o. He spent the entire week in camp, barely moving from the make-shift kitchen that they set up.

But from all accounts, he was the most popular man in camp. The kids all raved about the food and were apparently cheering for him each night.

The food was fairly simple--it's hard to cook for 100 people without an actual kitchen, but they brought up griddles and large burners and were able to warm things up and do some simple, good cooking: biscuits and gravy with eggs and sausage, Frito chili boats, pasta with meat sauce. The highlight was the night Daddy-o smoked tri-tip and they made mashed potatoes and green beans. Seriously, the kids couldn't stop talking about it when they came home.

I'm so glad that there are so many great leaders who are willing to sacrifice so much time to make these camps happen for the church youth and their friends. It's such a positive experience for most of them.

And while Daddy-o and Peanut were away, and Bug was working 35 hours, I had a lot of quiet down time. Time to blog, and clean, and rest after the busy week I'd had before.

It was a great week for all of us.

Birthday Boy!

Our newly turned 14 year old! 

We had a pretty lowkey day--

building bridges for the guinea pigs in science class, park with friends afterwards,

and he requested homemade mac and cheese for dinner, and a mint brownie "cake", and a Marvel movie for the evening.

But then, one of his gifts was a night at the Great Wolf Lodge with cousins that weekend. From all reports, all the kids, and dads, had a fantastic time.

Daddy-o splurged and got them the whole package,

so they had credits for the arcade,

ropes course,

bowling,

and mini golf.

They got to hang out in their bunk room,

and the outdoor pool even opened, earlier in the year than we'd expected, so they spent some time on Saturday out there, as well as doing all the slides and fun in the water park indoors. experiences make the best birthday gifts!