Hi guys, well it looks like I am back, sort of kind of, maybe. If you are the one faithful reader I have then you know I have been on what in some cultures would be classified as a vacation. Thursday I drove my Daddy’s land yacht RV to near the LA state line. Friday I drove to Florida for him before crossing AL, and back towards the LA state line to begin the what will forever be referred to as the “infamous camping trip of 2010”.
This was just before I spelled out SOS in driftwood
Even though I built my house way out in the woods apparently there is still an appeal to camping when you are a 9 year old boy. I remember taking my older 2 primitive camping with my friend Shannan and her 2 little ones for 9 days. It was awesome. By awesome I mean we were filthy covered in dirt and scars on our mental Psyche that no therapist can undo. Since that trip I have been derelict in my parenting camping duties. I take hotel trips and day kayak or canoe trips. When the Prince got a tent, mess kit and all the camping goodies for Christmas 2 years ago I camped with him on our land. Acres of woods with no street lights, that’s camping right? Sure we were just about 150 feet from the house but I turned off all the lights and made the rule we couldn’t go in the house for anything from 5pm to noon the next day so it felt like camping.
After his second super dull suck summer thanks to me and the dumb medical stuff I was way overdue on giving him an adventure that didn’t take place on Casa De Kirk .
To be honest this trip was not for me, this trip was for 2 men in my life that I would throw my body into a pool of alcohol and razor blades for. My Daddy and my son the 9 year old Prince. The Prince is the only Grandchild out of a large herd that my Daddy had not taken camping and considering my Dad’s age and health he wanted to make this trip special for my little prince.
some memories will stay with you forever I hope this is one of them
Here are some memories the Prince, PawPaw and the Droid shared that I hope I never forget.
1- Several walks a day, bring education on trees, birds and flowers.
2-Paw Paw showing you how to use his pocket knife to sharpen a roasting stick then letting you do it.
3- Kayaking with your dad
4- being allowed to kayak down a river by yourself
( *** that kayak busted the front windshield out of my mini van on Monday, any auto glass sponsors out there want to hit me up give me a call or email I am easy***)
5- checkers with PawPaw, there is no substitute.
There are a million more memories we shared over this trip. Knowledge was passed down from generations and love was in abundance. There was no wii, no xbox, no laptops, and no cell phones. None of us died from that. In addition none of us got poison ivy. Even though I did almost call the Coast Guard when the Prince and Droid took a bit longer than I thought they should to make it to the pick up point. The only bear was me, when I was woken up at 430am.
Thankfully my daughter Sam drove down 1 night after work getting in at midnight and then got up with Paw Paw allowing me to sleep until nearly 730am to which my dad proclaimed I slept the day away. Thanks Sam for taking a hit for the home team.
As far as the snake bite, I had considered faking one so I could go to an ER with AC and vending machines and checked with my twitter people and face book friends before I left and if it came down to it I would have done that. But actually I didn’t need to. If you have to ask me why, scroll through the pictures above again.
I hope each of you take a moment to let those you value, or those you love let them know how much and why today, maybe even share a memory with them.
Making memories. That’s what the DH calls times like these. The Prince will remember this time forever.. and so will you. That being said…….. I AM SO GLAD MY SYBIL IS HOME!
sounds like a great time… and its all about the memories…
glad you are back!! 🙂
we are going to a cabin this weekend with the kids and the dogs… so we shall see how it goes…
that the closest to camping i get… or an rv 🙂
That is beautiful. Yesterday, I met a man who reminded me so much of my grandpap, I wanted to cry. He’s been gone 9 years now, and still sometimes, I miss him so much it hurts. But I have wonderful memories of him (even though none of them involve camping, he knew my limits!), and when I wish he was still with us, I can think about how happy I was to curl up on his lap, and how he smelled, and how I was pretty sure he hung the moon.
You should make a scrapbook for the Prince with these special memories, so he can always keep it with him.
@Holly from MidWesternMamaH- I am glad to be home also, but I wouldn’t have missed this trip for anything, it may take me a while to get back in the swing of things but it was very worth it.
@Sarah from OverThinkingMama- It was a great time, the best was watching my son, soak up everything my Daddy had to say. The best was their political discussions. I have to say I had no clue my son was so politically aware and would say here is what I think and let me tell you why. I was impressed.
@Rachel from TheRachelChron- I am glad you liked it. My Granddad was my hero growing up. To this day the smell of sawdust takes me back to a 7 year old in his work shop. I miss him so much. My fathers life is so rich and full he’s lived more life than 100 average men and I want to make sure my kids know at least some of it, so that they can pass it down to their children.
As far as scrap booking. I use the internet as my scrap book. I have my entire pregnancy with the prince along with every month of his first year saved on the web for him. Since we own the servers I know it will always be there for them. and never yellow, fade or get washed away in a storm. http://www.thepeachy1.com/alex/
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Sis-A-Rue I liked the article and you were ALMOST correct in everything you wrote, except the waking hours. At 3am when I usually rise, you and crew were getting zzz’s golore and I lay there wearing myself out trying so hard not to wake any of you, but at 4am it’s time to get stiring and I do. It’s breakfst for me around 5 or so and I like my coffee as soon as I can make it after getting out of bed.
I did enjoy the trip and I hope my grandson will remember some of the things that we did togather, like fishing, walking the dog, hiking thru the park togather, grilling steaks, hot dogs, etc, things like this just don’t teaste right if done in the back yard.
I want to thank you for all you did like driving the motor home there and back for me and helping grandma with all the chores. Also like to thank my son-in-law Lloyd for his assistance, in fact he and our camping neighbor did all the required chores in setting up and getting us ready to depart. I thank each of them, Also want to thank my grandson for lesson he gave me in our checker games, He beat me until my ears flop like molasses on a very cold day, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
Love you always
Dad
Sounds like it was fun! How sweet for your son and your dad.
When we go we do tent camping but at a site that has a shelter with electricity right beside it. For some reason my cell phone is the only one that works in the area (I use Sprint) so all my friends and family are always bugging me to use it. I sit up in the shade and surf the internet on my blackberry! Ha! We also have a nice pool and flushing toilets and nice shower house at the park we camp at too.
The places we hike are gorgeous too. The racoons always try to steal our food though!! They actually ripped through the side of one of the tents one year!! They leave footprints on our camp chairs too as though they sit around the fire pit when we go to bed. Ha.
Anyways – sweet story here.
too cute, you are obviously much more adventurous than I am. Have fun on your trip.
[…] that last one? Remember the time my husband busted out my van windshield with a kayak? I was there, trying to supervise. But Mensa man growled at me when I asked about it busting […]