Daddy-Daughter Campout

In June (yay, I'm up to June now!) Ryan took Elise on our Ward's Daddy-Daughter campout.  We figured she was finally big enough to enjoy it, and we were right!  She couldn't stop telling me about it for weeks afterward.  (It was especially sweet for her because Connor was so jealous.)  They went to a campground about half an hour away, and did the usual evening campfire stuff - hot dogs, marshmallows, stories, etc.  Ryan said that at one point (relatively early), Elise announced that she was sleepy and wanted to go to bed.  That's unusual for her, but Ryan agreed and took her to the tent, got her jammies on, and tucked her in.  After he thought she was asleep, he snuck out to hang with the other dads around the fire.  Eventually, somebody asked, "Is that your kid crying?"  I guess she had woken up and wondered where he was, so Ryan gave up and went to bed.
  

   
They did breakfast and a service project the next morning, and Elise had about eight big sisters to carry her around, braid her hair, and take pictures of her.  Ryan said it was the weirdest campout he's ever been on, "They were doing each others' hair, and being all cute and stuff."   
   

Bad Hillquist

    

They also took turns going on this huge tree swing. 

    

Giant Swing

  
Elise was all smiles when they got back.  She's going to force us to make this a tradition, for sure.