A new tradition

Growing up in Utah at the base of the Wasatch Mountains I spent a lot of my nights as a teenager in the mountains. A typical weekend consisted of building a campfire and listening to friends play guitar. It is one of my favorite things to do. I never thought such a thing would be possible in Texas but we discovered we could still enjoy the outdoors with a campfire even if we were not in the mountains. A group of us went to Erwin park in Mckinney and found the perfect camping spot. It had lots of maintained grassy area around us so we could play sports while it was light, then it had a great fire pit for the evening. We got up to the spot about 4 in the afternoon and did not leave until closing at 10. One of the funniest highlights of the trip was when Len Tanner, Cameron and Lens daughter Lindsey decided that we needed to move the camp trash can away from our table because there were tons of bees bothering us. The men put on sweatshirts and gloves and planned on running with the trash can while Lindsey stood near by with newspaper on fire to calm the bees. I have to say it was one of the funniest things to witness...you can see a little of it in the pictures we took. After that we cooked tinfoil dinners over coals and they turned out perfect! We ate our dinners and then roasted marshmallows and sang songs by the campfire while Cameron and Steve played. The highlight is when Cameron played guitar and Len and Steve sang an improv song about the night. We were crying they were both so clever. The kids told scary stories and made forts in the trees. It just felt like it should, you know the way it was when you were all kids. Free fun loving innocent fun. It was all around a great family night out.

Steve Frederick and Abbey Frederick.
Bret Crane and his 6 month old Gavin and Cameron and 6 month old Mason. They are one week apart.
We tried to take a good picture, but it ended up with the boys popping in the back and Cameron looking half asleep while Mason's attention was somewhere else.
Ryan represented the Barker clan. Kellie was home sick with Grayden, but Alex and Ryan made it. This is Ryans "man pose?"
Jenny Frederick, Anne Copeland, Emily Crane, Julie Sivley, Shelly Tanner. Such great friends.

Shelley held Mason while the boys took care of the bees. I have to say it is such a cute one of both!
Emily and Shelley. Even darling while they camp.

Jenny and Anne.....how long have we been friends now? 5 plus years I think.
Len Tanner (trying not to blink from the flash) Lindsey Tanner, Sydney Copeland and Abby Crane.
Bill and Barrett Sivley. Some daddy love.

Len and Cameron preparing to remove the bee problem.
Lindsey Tanners job was to be the "bee calmer" they lit the newspaper on fire.
Here are Len and Cam running with the bee filled trash can. You can see the fire holder behind Len.

They ditched the trash can and are running back to safety!