A little woods time

I got out for a little bit the other day to enjoy a quick lunch with my buddy.  The afternoon was perfect weather, about 50 degrees and not much wind.  We took a simple trail towards a small lake.  Here's the beginning as we headed out.

We scouted the area a bit

Pack and axe for the day.  We found a little spot in some cedar trees and made it our small camp for the afternoon.

I finally got a chance to use a fire kit I won in a giveaway on BladesandBushcraft.   The kit below contains an antler tip ferro rod, a small antler handled knife from a file, also on the knife handle is a socket to use with a bowdrill, and a tin full of fatwood pieces and jute twine.
 

Cut up some fatwood shavings. 

Well I'm not going to lie, getting the shavings to light wasn't the problem.  The shavings weren't staying lit quite long enough to get the tinder to take.  The wood and cedar shavings I had were a little damp, just enough that I knew I would need a sustained flame to get it to take.  So between that and a 4 year old I was trying to keep entertained I chose to go the quick route on the fire.  I split a piece off the fatwood and lit it with my lighter.   Not the most bushcrafty approach but I did get fire and kept the show rolling for the little one.

Heating up some water

Hot coco is a good way to warm a kid and put a smile on their face

So with hot coco taken care of it was time for the PB&J sandwich's.  Here's bel enjoying lunch in the woods

 We took a couple swiss cake rolls too, another crowd pleaser.  We fed the fire and relaxed for a little while. 

 After that we headed to the lake shore to do some rock chunkin.

water level was down on the lake. 

I thought this stump made for a neat silhouette shot of the knife. 

We have mussels in about every lake I've been to here in Oklahoma and they are usually coin sized, but Bel found a shell from one that was the biggest I've seen here.  Knife is about 9 1/4" for scale.  

and we are now throwing rocks.  Some kids seem to be completely enamored with throwing rocks.  I seriously don't know how long she would do this until she got tired of it.  

Well it's about that time to make our way back

this last shot is Bel after she climbed her proclaimed "Mountain"

All in all it was a great afternoon out.  Enjoying one of your favorite pastimes with your young ones and seeing them enjoy it too is sure to put a smile on your face.  Helps keep things in perspective too about what's important in life, and then there's everything else.


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