Wednesday, July 30 – Golden Ears Park

We cooked up a generous breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes on the camp stove, reminding us that most of your time camping is consumed in the preparation and cleanup of meals. I promised the boys ice cream cones if they helped me find the garbage bin, prompting a trip to the camp store. 

On return we played Uno or Game of Life or both. I can't remember when we did what. At some point we also played some soccer and the game where two players each have a plastic scoop and throw a ball back and forth. After lunch Grandma spun some yarns for a while in the tent.

Finally we headed down to the spot by the river again. There was a small sand area where the boys played with the sand toys while Grandma spun more tall tales. Then the boys put their Super Soaker water guns to good use on Grandpa.

We returned to the campsite for another meal of hot dogs and s’mores, followed by sitting around the fire. 

Things were going swimmingly until Justin let out a holler. He was playing with a stick in the fire and throwing twigs in, as any boy would do. We had warned him several times about being careful, but he had a momentary lapse in focus and actually reached out and touched the metal campfire grate, burning the pads, but not the tips of the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He was in substantial pain and quite upset. We did not know how bad it would get in the hours ahead, but we were pretty sure he would have a sleepless night. We decided to break camp and head home a day early. Justin got some relief by keeping his hand in a pot of cool water, so we hung a pot on his arm rest and away we went. He actually fell asleep for a while on the way home and, by the time we reached home, was fairly comfortable as long as his hand was in the water. He fell asleep with his hand hanging over the side of his bed in a pot of water.