Last Friday, I took the boys camping. Ever since our Disney camping trip back in the fall, they’ve been begging to go again. Of course, it’s been much too cold to seriously consider it, but with spring time weather finally here, we were finally able to make it happen.

We packed up our gear: a tent, sleeping bags, a cooler full of Cherry Cokes and Sunny D, some charcoal for grilling, and bikes and scooters for riding. On our way to the campsite, we stopped by a local grocery store and bought some hot dogs and a bundle of firewood. We got the campsite set up just before dark, so we didn’t have any time for riding bikes or hiking, so we decided to fire up the grill. After feasting on hot dogs and Doritos, we made ourselves a campfire and spent some time talking before delving into the massive chocolate bar my mother in law sent home with me to give to the boys. All three of us must’ve been exhausted because we all fell asleep in the tent around 10PM.

We slept great until about 3AM. I woke to the sound of one of our neighbors walking his dog…and that’s when I was struck with just how cold it was outside. I checked the weather app on my phone and it gave a temperature in the 30s! I threw another blanket on top of the boys and slept pretty fitfully until morning. But there were absolutely no regrets, despite the colder weather. The morning made it all worth it.

After eating breakfast and drinking my morning coffee, we went over to the playground area at the campsite. Jackson had fun playing on the slide & swing; he even made a new friend. Joshua and I threw baseball before he joined his brother for some play time on the massive play set. After an hour or so on the playground, we got out our walking sticks and took a long walk through a couple of the trails. One trail in particular took us along a fairly high bluff. Jackson continually wanted to lead the way on our walk. I’m so impressed with his fearless nature, although I have to admit, I had to rein him in a few times when he’d get dangerously close to the edge.

We hiked for about 2 hours or so before little legs finally gave out. On our walk back to my truck, Jackson looked up at me with a little bit of dirt and sweat caked onto his face. He said, “Dad, this is the greatest day.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It’s the greatest day of my life.”

I immediately thought of that old George Strait song, “The Best Day”. It’s a song that follows the relationship of a father and son throughout the years. The opening verse describes a camping trip, similar to this one, wherein the boy tells his Dad, after spending the weekend together, “Dad, this could be the best day of my life.”

I’d have to agree with Jackson; it ranks as one of my favorites, too.

The Bybee boys camping trip, Spring 2013