I know. I know. I’m still behind. And at my current rate, the number of tales I want to tell will quickly outpace my telling! But I promise – I’m going to work on getting caught up…
And it starts with a beautiful fall weekend in the middle of October. The weather was perfect. We hadn’t had the opportunity to go camping all year (the current arrangement of working in one state while living in another makes weekend camping trips fairly difficult!).
So – with a fabulous weather forecast and an extra day off – we loaded up the camper and headed to Norris Dam State Park.
Mike REALLY loves being outside. And he REALLY loves wearing his jacket (both indoors and out). And he LOVED his previous camping trips – even though the last one had been nearly a year ago. So we were fairly confident that he would have a wonderful time.
And we were right! It all started from the moment we arrived. We backed the camper in to the spot and all got out of the truck. Mike immediately started walking around the camper and studying various parts as if he was performing some sort of inspection. After walking the entire perimeter, he declared that the camper was a garbage truck!
While “The Dad” finished setting up the camper, “The Mom” took Mike and the dogs inside to keep them all contained. “The Mom” flipped on the satellite radio to the bluegrass station. Yes – for you camping purists – our camper is indeed a rolling Holiday Inn. Complete with stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, shower (with HOT water), and – yes – satellite radio.
From the outside, “The Dad” heard what sounded like a thundering heard of elephants coming from inside the camper. Turns out, all of that thundering stomping was Mike! He was cutting a rug dancing to the Bluegrass music. He absolutely LOVED IT! And with that little discovery – the “Kids Channel”is now on MUCH less. After all, “The Mom” and “The Dad” also prefer Bluegrass to “Kids Place Live”…
After camp was set up – Mike came back outside. He walked out – took a few steps around – and with a very surprised look on his face he exclaimed, “It’s NOT a garbage truck! It’s a CAMPER!”
And that set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Lots of laughs. Lots of fun. And the best part? We were all three together…
Mike decided that the chairs were his “tunnel”…
…and he climbed through his “tunnel” all weekend!
“I need a little more dirt on this carpet…”
Mike and “The Dad” play with Matchbox Cars!
“See daddy – this one goes like this…”
“Why throw the rings when you can just drop them on to the pole?”
Pick some leaves up…
…put them in the bucket…
…and dump them on the carpet!
Boys and dirt just go together. The cool part? Most of these cars belonged to “The Dad” back when he was Mikes age!
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