Fathers and Sons has just come and gone for the Arcadia Stake. It was held at Santa Fe Dam. Dad made an appearance, but didn't spend the night. No picking up IBC rootbeer or going through Church's Chicken (the one time a year that place was visited by the Cornwalls). No packing up for hours and hours. No cranky dirty boys arriving home a few short hours later. I'm thankful that our dad loved to hang out with his boys. I think this was the year that dad tried to point out Jeffrey Road to Jeffrey and then stopped suddenly with traffic. Jeff cracked the windshield with his head. That is a tender mercy I need to be thankful for more often.
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| This picture always made me laugh - You needed a T.V. for spending one night? That must have been a big operation in those days. Now these great men - Roger Menlove, Meryl Keller and Clyde Miller aren't around for fathers and sons. |
Santa Fe Dam was the first Fathers and Sons I remember going to as a father. For some reason it was a stake event that year, when it was usually a ward outing, until recently. It was when Jason was probably 23 months old. It was the first time I borrowed the Cornwall Hilton (tent) from great-grandpa. And it was before I put wheels on the tent pole box. I had not set that tent up since I was a boy. It's not hard to set up if one knows what they are doing and two people are doing it. I didn't know what I was doing. And a 2 year does not count as a second setter-upper. I recall the elder men of the stake standing around our little spot chuckling at this young dad not knowing what pole went where, trying to do a two man job by himself while trying to keep track of an active two year old.
ReplyDeleteFathers and Sons was much better when it settled down to IBC and Church's Chicken. (What other kind of chicken would one take on a "church" outing?) We also got in the practice of always being the first to get there and the last to leave. Oh, yeah! We color marked the poles and the boys became good helpers.
Oh boy do I miss those days. I looked forward to Fathers and Sons every year. The said tent received its name pretty recently. I never remember referring to it as "The Hilton."
ReplyDeleteThat IBC and chicken was THE best! It took me a while to acquire the taste of cream soda like my dad and brothers, but I soon came to like it as much as root beer. You had to throw some black cherry in there too.
I still remember the Jeffrey Rd story. I guess I'm pretty hard headed because I don't remember it hurting at all.
Another key element was playing capture the flag. That was a blast.
Thanks Dad, Jason, and Robb for all the memories.
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#34
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