The last 30 hours have been quite the adventure.  Definitely exhausting.  Definitely worth it.

When I think of Christmas time, camping is not the first thing to come to mind, but that is exactly what the men of my family survived last night.  With Crystal and I moving away sometime in early January (yes, we are taking our children with us) and a few other scheduling changes, we decided to bump up our camping trip with “the boys.”  “The boys” are my nephews, aka The Brothers Payne, Tristan (12), Justus (10), and Titus (8).  They are a gang capable of significant creativity, as well as devastating destruction and some stellar hip hop dance moves along the way (seriously).  The other little man of the family is Zachariah…but he is only 18 months old, so he stayed behind this time.

This was my first time taking Ezra on an overnight adventure like this (off in the woods when it is crazy cold) with just the guys.

The hype leading up to this camping trip was intense (no pun intended considering we stayed in a roughed-up hunting camper, not tents)!  Each of the past several days, Ezra asked constantly, “Is today the day we go camping?”  Much like putting up the Christmas decorations, Ezra asked somewhere close to a gazillion questions.

The kid is 4 and thinks his cousins are amazing, wants to do what they do and go where they go.  That totally makes sense…in a contained environment.  Papa, Uncle Jonny and myself corraled these crazies as we hiked through the timber scaring off all wildlife with beat-boxing, those stellar hip hop moves, and of course questions asked at unnecessarily high decibal levels.  We followed deer tracks, climbed deer stands, roasted hotdogs, and built a rather inpressive fort too.

The night was filled with lots of dancing and laughter around a fire, listening to howling coyotes, and of course drinking man drink (hot cocoa) and eating man food (smores).

We conquered the excursion with minor injuries, no major meltdowns…other than from Justus…but he is a middle child, what can you expect (yes, that was a fun little jab at my brother)?

It was a special time for a number of reasons.  Running around with Ezra and the boys out in the timber brought back a flood of memories from growing up.  Jonathan and I spent countless hours constructing elaborate forts, hideouts, and treehouses in the timber behind our house.  I love that time with my brother.  Brothers are supposed to be close and I’m so thankful I have such a good relationship with Jonathan.

I loved seeing my dad in his element.  He loves being a grandpa and watching him serve us all, from building the fire to drying Justus’ pants over the fire to roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire (the man just likes fire), made me realize how much stability he creates for our family.  He will drop anything to do whatever his children or grandchildren need him to do.  Just one of the many reasons I want to be like my dad.

I am so proud of Ezra.  He was a great little trooper keeping up with the big boys.  Watching him play with sticks and dig holes and climb deer stands reminded me how important it is to escape into the woods.  There something about sticks, mud and fire that brought out different facets of his creativity, curiosity and independence.

And the boys…one of the hardest things about moving away is moving away from them.  I love them.  Going to their games, their recitals, their concerts won’t be as easy as it has been.  I look at them and I know they have been through some really rough times, and I’m more determined than ever to be a part of their lives.

I want to be a good dad and I want to be a good uncle.  And though adventures like this will not be what make me that, they sure help me remember what matters most.