I don’t know if I should start this by ….
It’s raining, it’s pouring… probably not.
Or a begining of "Hello Mother, Hello Everybody, here we are at Camp Tsungoni!" No that's not right.
Or a modified line from one of Jordon’s books. “My daddy and I have the greatest of times; we go to campouts, and with lightening and rains.” What a campout it was! I left a little early from work so I could get home by 5:30pm, spend a little time with Darlene and Jordon, then rush out the door to Dad’s. I brought a backpack with clothes and supplies for the night, my Bar-B Que grill, and a nice rain coat. I meet Dad at his house; we packed and blazed the trail to the event.
The place we went to is called Camp Tsungoni by Lake Lewisville. When we arrived, we set up camp with The Colony 2nd Ward and near The Colony 1st Ward right near the entrance of the camp. Of course there were big, fancy houses just a quarter of a mile away from the camping area, and we found out that our “neighbors” weren’t too happy for the visit. For dinner we had some wonderful steaks and vegetables in tin foil. Dad got the wise idea to precook the vegetable before we got there in tin foil. I don’t know how much of that idea was either Mom’s or Dad’s, but it was delicious!
After that two families asked to use the grill. The camp/ city of Highland Park have a burn ban, like everywhere else here in Texas. The only fires could be in grills or fire pits that were already there. While we were eating, a police officer came up to the camp asking for a Mr. Alleman. I instinctively pointed to Dad. It’s so hard to imagine that I’m a old enough to be called Mr. Alleman. The police officer came to talk to the person in charge, which wasn’t me! Dad talked and found out that the neighbors were afraid of fires spreading around. Dad had to get a couple of groups to put out their fires, or fire starting because of that. Boy Scouts do love to make fires. I wonder if most of the pyromaniacs were scouts when growing up, because these boys had their fires going pretty fast. The officer actually came a second time before we finished eating. This time there were two of them. They were pleasant and very understanding. They just wanted to make sure we kept the fires under control. By that time the area was crowded with people from the stake. The last estimate I heard was the three to four hundred people at the event last night. Dad and the officer exchanged cell phone numbers just to be on the safe side. In case they needed to contact Dad of any trouble, or visa versa.
After dinner Dad and I went walking around. I went wondering around to some friend that I knew, and crowds of people came up to Dad. It’s great to see him having fun with the many different brothers in the stake. Dad had some very nice long talks with many people, so it took us a while to walk all the way to the other side of camp. It was then that I realize that the camp was a Day Camp for youth. It had a swimming area, sand volleyball pit, the works. The rest rooms were a mess, and that’s messy since I’m saying it.
The skits from the different wards were fun, and the cobbler and ice cream finished the night out very well. At the end the first police officer came back asking about our fire pit, and the noise from the sound system. The crazy thing was I was the one that found her, and was able to get her over to Dad. Why am I always able to find a cop when I don’t need one, and can never find one when I do need one? (Those are some long stories that I might share at another time.) Dad was able to settle the worries by showing the great fire pit. It was controlled and elevated. I’m quite impressed by the planning of the stake leaders. Everything seemed so organized. The noise was resolved since the program was over, and the sound system was turned off. She was offered some dessert for the third or fourth time, since that’s probably how many times she was there. She kindly refused and left, but not for the last time. Everyone left and went for camp. Dad and I stopped by some Colony 2nd warders and talked about the past times and current times. Then we went to sleep.
At 2:30am a storm came from the north east and the wind because really strong! The police officer came one last time to tell us that everyone should probably go home. Dad and I zipped up the tent flaps and were ready to weather it through, when someone came and told us that many of the campers were leaving. Dad checked out his Blackberry and noticed that the storm was actually going straight for us, but the Lord was blessing us that night. The storm was strong for any hour but there was a calm spot right in the middle of the storm coming right toward us. I asked Dad if that calm spot wasn’t a potentially tornado coming our way. I can deal with rain and some thunder, but a tornado is past my tolerance level of camping. I hear any warning or watch of tornados and I rush for shelter. Luckily the storm didn’t have any warnings or watches for tornados.
There might have been a flash flood watch, because our tent was flooded and we were drenched. After Dad realized that the weather wasn’t a threat, he knelt and prayed for the safety of everyone there. I knew he was worried for every single person there. We saw many people driving away, and many members helped each other take down their tents and put everything away. After that Dad and I slept through the storm. It must be something in the Alleman family that helps us sleep even in an old tent during a big storm. That morning the only people left for our ward was us and the Matsuda Family. The first ward only had the Richins Family. In all there were only 35 cars left, with an estimated 60 to 70 left. Dad and the stake leaders made breakfast that morning, and I went to round up everyone that could hear my voice or whoever I could see sleeping in a car. Everyone had plenty to eat since the stake was planning for a lot more people to hang around. We packed up the food, supplies and everything. Drove to The Colony, and helped Marty Miller put the big grill back in the storage shed. Then we picked up the extra food from someone and put the tent, sleeping bags, cots, and everything out to dry. Darlene and I are taking care of some of the extra food in the freezer. We did get a few eggs and a pack of broken cookies out of the deal. Girls Camp is a few weeks away, and the cookies, honey buns, and maybe the ice cream will be used that week. So that was our Fathers and Sons campout. We had fun, meet some nice cops, and had some really good cobbler and ice!
P.S. Pictures will be posted soon and the next post will tell of our times at Scarbough Fair!
The place we went to is called Camp Tsungoni by Lake Lewisville. When we arrived, we set up camp with The Colony 2nd Ward and near The Colony 1st Ward right near the entrance of the camp. Of course there were big, fancy houses just a quarter of a mile away from the camping area, and we found out that our “neighbors” weren’t too happy for the visit. For dinner we had some wonderful steaks and vegetables in tin foil. Dad got the wise idea to precook the vegetable before we got there in tin foil. I don’t know how much of that idea was either Mom’s or Dad’s, but it was delicious!
After that two families asked to use the grill. The camp/ city of Highland Park have a burn ban, like everywhere else here in Texas. The only fires could be in grills or fire pits that were already there. While we were eating, a police officer came up to the camp asking for a Mr. Alleman. I instinctively pointed to Dad. It’s so hard to imagine that I’m a old enough to be called Mr. Alleman. The police officer came to talk to the person in charge, which wasn’t me! Dad talked and found out that the neighbors were afraid of fires spreading around. Dad had to get a couple of groups to put out their fires, or fire starting because of that. Boy Scouts do love to make fires. I wonder if most of the pyromaniacs were scouts when growing up, because these boys had their fires going pretty fast. The officer actually came a second time before we finished eating. This time there were two of them. They were pleasant and very understanding. They just wanted to make sure we kept the fires under control. By that time the area was crowded with people from the stake. The last estimate I heard was the three to four hundred people at the event last night. Dad and the officer exchanged cell phone numbers just to be on the safe side. In case they needed to contact Dad of any trouble, or visa versa.
After dinner Dad and I went walking around. I went wondering around to some friend that I knew, and crowds of people came up to Dad. It’s great to see him having fun with the many different brothers in the stake. Dad had some very nice long talks with many people, so it took us a while to walk all the way to the other side of camp. It was then that I realize that the camp was a Day Camp for youth. It had a swimming area, sand volleyball pit, the works. The rest rooms were a mess, and that’s messy since I’m saying it.
The skits from the different wards were fun, and the cobbler and ice cream finished the night out very well. At the end the first police officer came back asking about our fire pit, and the noise from the sound system. The crazy thing was I was the one that found her, and was able to get her over to Dad. Why am I always able to find a cop when I don’t need one, and can never find one when I do need one? (Those are some long stories that I might share at another time.) Dad was able to settle the worries by showing the great fire pit. It was controlled and elevated. I’m quite impressed by the planning of the stake leaders. Everything seemed so organized. The noise was resolved since the program was over, and the sound system was turned off. She was offered some dessert for the third or fourth time, since that’s probably how many times she was there. She kindly refused and left, but not for the last time. Everyone left and went for camp. Dad and I stopped by some Colony 2nd warders and talked about the past times and current times. Then we went to sleep.
At 2:30am a storm came from the north east and the wind because really strong! The police officer came one last time to tell us that everyone should probably go home. Dad and I zipped up the tent flaps and were ready to weather it through, when someone came and told us that many of the campers were leaving. Dad checked out his Blackberry and noticed that the storm was actually going straight for us, but the Lord was blessing us that night. The storm was strong for any hour but there was a calm spot right in the middle of the storm coming right toward us. I asked Dad if that calm spot wasn’t a potentially tornado coming our way. I can deal with rain and some thunder, but a tornado is past my tolerance level of camping. I hear any warning or watch of tornados and I rush for shelter. Luckily the storm didn’t have any warnings or watches for tornados.
There might have been a flash flood watch, because our tent was flooded and we were drenched. After Dad realized that the weather wasn’t a threat, he knelt and prayed for the safety of everyone there. I knew he was worried for every single person there. We saw many people driving away, and many members helped each other take down their tents and put everything away. After that Dad and I slept through the storm. It must be something in the Alleman family that helps us sleep even in an old tent during a big storm. That morning the only people left for our ward was us and the Matsuda Family. The first ward only had the Richins Family. In all there were only 35 cars left, with an estimated 60 to 70 left. Dad and the stake leaders made breakfast that morning, and I went to round up everyone that could hear my voice or whoever I could see sleeping in a car. Everyone had plenty to eat since the stake was planning for a lot more people to hang around. We packed up the food, supplies and everything. Drove to The Colony, and helped Marty Miller put the big grill back in the storage shed. Then we picked up the extra food from someone and put the tent, sleeping bags, cots, and everything out to dry. Darlene and I are taking care of some of the extra food in the freezer. We did get a few eggs and a pack of broken cookies out of the deal. Girls Camp is a few weeks away, and the cookies, honey buns, and maybe the ice cream will be used that week. So that was our Fathers and Sons campout. We had fun, meet some nice cops, and had some really good cobbler and ice!
P.S. Pictures will be posted soon and the next post will tell of our times at Scarbough Fair!
As promised the pictures of the exciting and damp evening. The three boys were doing their own type of gallon challenge. Each one drank the last of the gallon from the carton. Good thing their mother wasn't there. :-)
3 comments:
Oh my gosh! What an amazing faith building experience! How did it feel to finally dry out? :o)
It sounds like you had a fun night. Where was Jordon? surely he didn't miss his first father-sons campout! They are so much easier to camp with before they start walking.
Jordon couldn't come this year, since he had 6 to 7 teeth coming through. Many of the teeth are molars. Plus, he has been quite attached to Darlene. So, maybe next year.
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