The Annual Boys Weekend

Expecting a tale of crazy times in Vegas with the lads? Maybe a more sophisticated boys weekend comes to mind, say several rounds of golf. Both could be fun but neither is what I mean regarding The Annual Boys Weekend. Instead imagine camping in a tent with a 2 year old and a 1 year old child on your own.....yep that was how our annual boys weekend got started. Ok let me explain the situation a little further or at least as I recall it, bearing in mind this first trip was now 12 years ago.

My wife needed a break, two young children can be wearing on the best of us at times and some me time (for her) was well past due. I don't honestly remember why camping was picked as the way to do this, but I suspect it was a mix of budget (hotels cost a fair bit) and the fact I love camping and figured...."How hard could this be"? Regardless one weekend many years ago I find myself attempting to erect a tent at Little Bow campground in Alberta, Canada whilst at the same time trying to not lose my two small children. The one year old was fairly easy, strapped into his car seat he couldn't go anywhere......point for me. The two year old was another matter entirely, not happy to be strapped into the car seat he demanded out, quite loudly...point to the boys.

So picture me now trying to explain the finer points of setting up a tent to my two year old when he is more interested in toddling though the camp site and possibly off through the trees....needless to say the 30 minute homestead creation took a lot longer than expected. Point to the boys.

At the time I had no idea this would become a thing. During the first night I was wandering if we would wake up alive. A massive storm came through and no joke when I tell you the wind blew so hard the entire tent collapsed upon us, with the rain hammering down there was nothing to do. I simply held the tent up as a human pole until it let up and I could fix things. Both my boys slept through the entire thing blissfully unaware. Point to the weather and the boys.

I'm not going to give you a play by play of the entire two night stay but what I can tell you is that by the end of it the points tally was far more in the boys favour than mine. It was a really hard camping trip, it had its highs and lows, it was at times utterly stressful and at times gave me reason to smile and laugh in delight as I watched my sons engage in this experience. To think of it as a battle of two sides does the whole trip a disservice. I mostly jest when I use the point scoring concept, in truth it was the start of something that has become important to all of us.

Every year since we have gone camping, some years my brother-in-law and his two kids would join us and other years it has just been the original trio. But every time it has given us a time to connect and be together.

One trip my youngest showed interest in a camper in the next site who was playing a guitar. The guy was friendly but very drunk. He was playing the guitar and showing my son some cords and then at the end simply gave him the guitar. I protested thinking he was making a drunk gesture he would regret in the morning, but he would have none of it. I managed to pull his not so drunk partner aside and say "we can not accept this". She replied, "but you must, he?(the drunk guy)?does this every trip he brings an instrument and if someone shows interest he gifts it to them drunk or not. Its his thing." My son still has that guitar and my eldest has now started playing it, enough that a teacher at school is willing to start a guitar group during the lunch break for others that might be interested. This campers gift years later has left impressions beyond the moment.....who could have known.

I recall a trip to the Canadian Badlands where the temperature was up in the high 30's to low 40's (centigrade) the entire weekend. It was baking hot. We tried to spend our time outside under the shade of some trees but that proved impossible, an unrelenting swarm of mosquitoes covered the entire campground. A large and fast flowing river was close by so we attempted to find relief in there, not a chance. I thought mosquitoes only hung around stagnant standing water, apparently not. We had no option but to retreat inside our little trailer that was now a sweat box. Did we call it a day? No, we stayed, played games inside and every now and then ran over to the main site building to relish the air conditioning. We have these adventures and the memories that come with them. I'm sure the trips will change over the years, maybe hotels will seem like a better idea. I don't know. Some years for reasons I cant determine I have almost let the year go by without our trip, but my wife makes sure we go, I believe that she sees the worth of it and the importance in the time together for the three of us. I'm glad she has her eye on us and helps to keep us on the right path when needed. I do hope these trips continue and perhaps it will be a tradition they share with their families one day.

A friend of mine when told about this trip we make very quickly asserted, "it will be one of the best things you ever do". His young family went camping frequently and he felt that its a time for families to learn from each other, to problem solve and get creative with what's at hand when issues arrive. I can see the truth in his experience as in many respects it mirrors my own.

I hope you also can have similar experiences with those you love. If the time is less than perfect and the experience fraught with challenge don't give up on it. See it through to the end and you may find it develops into a memory or cherished tradition. It just needed the time to do so.

All the best.