Baby Boy got to sleep in a tent for the very first time.
We had a little bit of a problem with that new Coleman tent. Mr. W went a little overboard with the tent purchase, it had a porch, a hinged door, two rooms, a night light! Plus Daddy can stand completely upright inside. 
The problem was the rain screen wasn't big enough, or rather the guys didn't pull it out taught enough, or whatever, but water started dripping on us in the middle of the night. All this space in our brand new tent, and we're all squashed in a corner that isn't leaking. It was mostly resolved by the second night, but the damage was already done, I'm bitter about this new tent.On their first morning in the wilderness the children headed off on a nature hike, complete with some bug catchers that some smart parent brought for everyone. Here are the boys dressed in their PNdub outdoor gear.
Some chaperones following behind
And some little ladies bringing up the rear.
Our Little Helper was very pleased to have brought back this slug. I think these little bug kits were such a good idea, I'm so glad someone brought them!
The group campsite Mr. Z secured was really nice, it included a large field where we set up our tents and could park our vehicles, two 'cabins', 
a covered outdoor picnic area on slab, two pit toilets, and a mess hall with water and electricity. Not roughing it in my opinion, but with all the children (and many of the wives being the roughin' it type) it makes a lot of sense that the camping trips have evolved to this.When everyone gets together like this I still am amazed that all of them have had sons. There are very few daughters, and the few that are are not the first borns. Some crazy genes happening with this brotherhood. So with all this wide open space the boys were able to play a lot of catch and kick around a lot of balls. All that hard work deserves a mid-morning toasted marshmallow or two.
The girls were having their own mess adventure in nature.
As I mentioned in my camping prep post, the boys liek to outdo themselves when it comes to the meals. Each meal is prepared by a two family team. Saturday night's dinner was a pirate theme. There was a lot of effort put into a rum punch for the adults based on an old Dickens's recipe. (Or should I say an alleged Dickens's recipe?) There was also a very impressive Pirate's Treasure chest for dessert. (I am all kinds of surprised that it made the journey to the campsite looking so good!)
Of course there is always dinner entertainment too so in keeping with the pirate theme, the children played pin the eye patch on the pirate. Here the children are lined up somewhat patiently waiting their turn.
Ladybug is having a very earnest conversation with the pirate.
Getting blindfolded and spun. Each child got spun as many times as was their age.
It really was so great to have this mess hall for getting everyone together in some degree of illumination for dinners. It also made it a lot easier for the meal preparers to be out of the rain.A little baseball for day two.
Huddling around the firepit to stay warm.
Sunday was our night to prep the crazy bento meal that Mr. W and The General had decided upon. He even went out and found little storage boxes to fashion into the bento boxes. The problem was as he was prepping the meat he sliced his hand, so everything else, including these little boxes was done with a major injury. Poor guy! Here are the meat versions midway through; we created quite the assembly line to get these together.
And the final product, tofu version. Isn't this pretty camping food?
Not to have the children eat unattractive meals, The General instructed me to arrange their plates like this, with each foil wrapped quesadilla propped upright. 
Mr. W brought his yet unused karaoke machine and The General wired up a disco ball in the covered picnic area. Because you can't have karaoke without a disco ball, duh! 
Oh these boys! I don't know what our sons will think when they start camping with Boy Scouts, it will certainly be a shocker. It was really fun activity though! The song books even had a few songs that the children knew so they were allowed to sing a few songs before they were sent off to bed. Those children whose parents did not enforce a regular bedtime were left to suffer the consequences of obscene lyrics. (This probably is good preparation for Boy Scouts though?)
Our last morning of the camping trip, keeping my baby warm. He did really well on this trip. I look forward to next year though when he's sure to be running around with the bigger kids having muddy adventures.
And as far as the Three Amigos, this was an awesome way to spend the weekend. What more could you ask for at 3?
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