The Piton Perspective: Camping with Dad

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Camping with Dad

So, what did I get for Mother's Day this year? 24 hours of peace and quiet! Is there a better gift than that? I used my time to make cookies for Gabe's school, have dinner with friends, go shopping, enjoy a very welcomed surprise visit from my friend Peggy, make 5 batches of strawberry jam with my mom, and take time to just sit with my feet up - all done without any little helpers (I do LOVE my little helpers, but it's amazing how much you can get done in 24 hours without them!).

What did Mark and the boys do? They went on a church "Fathers and Sons" camp out at the coast. The boys were so excited about the trip! Will spent Friday helping me pack the van and get things ready to go while Gabe was at school. He knew they'd be leaving after Gabe got home, so all day I heard, "Where's daddy? I ready to go get Gabe!"

As soon as they could get away on Friday, they drove to San Simeon. Gabe and Will enjoyed a break from the drive at McDonald's and I think Mark was glad for the entertainment the "Speed Racer" toys brought. They were all happy to reach the campsite and get things set up.

The boys loved playing with the flashlights...well, until Gabe somehow managed to (accidentally) put a hole in his friend Steven's cheek with one. Gabe felt horrible and it was evident that Steven knew it was an accident, he kept telling his dad "Gabe's still my buddy." Luckily, Steven's dad is a doctor!

Helping dad set up the tent (while Will's friend Hunter supervises).

The finished product!

Running wild with their buddies Steven and Hunter.

Taking a short cut through the trees.

They both enjoyed climbing trees...

but apparently Will's fearless side took over and he climbed a tree and was above Mark's head (I also heard he climbed to the top of the ladder on our friend's camper).

Saturday morning brought a walk to the beach. The boys had fun playing in the water and sand. And, Gabe brought home a great collection of rocks!

Before heading home, they stopped to see the Elephant Seals...

And there were A LOT of them!

Thanks Mark! The boys loved their trip and I loved the time off!

1 comment:

Shannon P. said...: Okay Jodie I should not have read this post because before I got through all the pictures I was bawling. Okay not crying but bawling.... Our Father's and Son's is next weekend and it is a tradition for Charles to take the boys.Well this time he has manditory training and they can't go. I have 2 very sad kids and a sad mom(meaning I will not be getting a break)!; May 25, 2008 at 2:33 PM

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Out of the mouths of BOYS...

1/11 - I asked if anyone wanted to go to the store with me, Gabe smiled and said, "Sorry, mom. I've got a date with my DSi!"

1/11 - Sam is can be a bit of a snuggler. If he wants to be held he says, "Mom, I need to hold you!"

1/11 - Anytime you give Sam a banana, he holds it to his ear and talks into it. "Hello, Noma. I going to eat you, okay?" or "Hi, Noma. Can I eat you today?"

1/11 - Will was singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" repeatedly. Sam turned to him and yelled, "Stop singing! I don't like that song! I LIKE Grandma!"

1/11 - Me to Sam: "When Mom or Dad calls you, you come. You don't run away."

Sam: "I didn't run away, I walked!"

1/11 - Sam was upset with me today for putting Christmas away. He said, "You can't put Kwistmas away, it's Kwistmas Eve!!"

11/10 - Sam gave me a tour of our house today. "I take a bath here, Mom." "I go night-night here."

11/10 - Gabe was reading a Thanksgiving book to his brothers. It started with "'Twas". Gabe told his brothers, "'Twas', that's how you know it's a holiday book."

11/10 - Gabe: "Mom, there's a 100% chance that is MIGHT snow. I can see my breath!"

11/10 - The boys were discussing pirates today. Gabe asked me if pirates still exsisted. Before I could answer, Will answered him with, "No, they became extinct in the '90's. Right, mom, the '90's?"

11/10 - During a family conversation (about neither ducks or geese) tonight, Will interjected with "Duck, duck, goose just doesn't make any sense!"

10/10 - Sam was BamBam for Halloween. He now introduces himself as "BamBam."

10/10 - Sam has dubbed Bryce "Baby Rice."

7/10 - With two errands left, I was hot, tired, and running low on patience...

Me: "Okay boys, I just want to warn you...I'm running low on patience. I really need you all to be on your best behavior just a little longer."

Will: "It's a good thing we're at Walmart, you can get yourself some more patience!"

1/10 - One of the boys' Christmas gifts that was delivered by Santa has a design flaw that led to it needing to be fixed...

Mark: "Maybe we should return it."

Will (spinning around to face Mark, with eyes as big as saucers): "To the North Pole??!!!???!!"

1/10 - Will: "What color was Grandpa's hair before he was old?"

Me: "It was dark, like black."

Will: "Grandpa was cool. All the cool guys have black hair."

1/10 - We got in the van the other day...

Will: "It smells like the 'Old West' in here."

Me: "What does the 'Old West' smell like?"

Will: "You know. Like when we watch Spirit, it smells like that."

12/09 - Will came running to me to tattle on Gabe, this is what he said..."Mom! Gabe just... Gabe just said... Gabe just... Oh, nevermind, I don't understand it myself."

12/09 - Will: "Check it out! That builder wipes his nose the same way I do!"

12/09 - Me: "So, Gabe, what is the best part about Christmas?"

Gabe: "Getting presents and candy. Hey Mom, you know the naughty kid in my class? Brian? (names have been changed to protect the innocent) I think he's gonna get coal."

Me: laughing

Gabe: "Well, it's not like I'm happy about it!"

12/09 - Will: "It's hard being a rockstar."

11/09 - Will came into my bathroom this morning with his shoulders slumped and his head down. He looked sad and defeated. This is the conversation that followed...

Me: "What's wrong?"

Will: "I'm gonna have to explain to my boys why we don't have any books."

Me: "When your a dad you can buy your kids books. And when I'm a grandma, I'll buy your kids books. I want my grandkids to have lots of books."

Will: "Okay, but then I'm going to have to explain to them that I can't read."

9/09 - Tonight we had my parents over for dinner. After Will was done eating he wanted to snuggle with Nana. While snuggling, she mentioned that he smelled like soap. He decided to smell Nana and declared, "You smell old!"

9/09 - As we pulled into my parent's place yesterday, Will started yelling "Hi, Grandpa! Hi, Grandpa!" (Grandpa was on the tractor and couldn't hear him.) He then turned to Gabe and said, "Grandpa is my favorite character! Who's your favorite character Gabe?" I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly, so I asked him what he'd said. He said, "Grandpa is my favorite character. He's kinda like Gary."

9/09 - When Gabe threw his banana peel away a little piece fell on the floor. I asked him to pick it up. As he was picking it up, he started gagging. After he threw the piece of banana away, I asked him why he had gagged. His response: "My mouth thought I was going to eat it."

9/09 - At dinner the other night, Will looked at me and said, "Good dinner, Honey!" I replied with, "Thanks! But, you can all me 'Mom.'" He said, "No, you're a girl and girls are 'Honeys'".

8/09 - The night before preschool started, we were talking to Will about what he'd be doing there. Gabe walked over to him, grabbed him by the shoulder, and said, "Go make some friends tomorrow!"

8/09 - I overheard Will talking to himself today, and this is what I heard... "See, I knew I was a genius!"

8/09 - Will: "I'm all sweaty because I ran faster than a beaver and a bear!"

7/09 - Will: "Do we have tiny little phones in our bodies incase a little mouse calls us?"

7/09 - Will has a bit of a lying problem lately. It's not serious (yet!), he usually lies about things like who made the mess and things like that. He's had many lectures about telling the truth. I thought we had gotten the point across until this...

Me: "I really need you to tell me the truth."

Will: "I did tell you the truth! It was MY truth!"

5/09 - Will: "Mom, which hand is the right hand to tell the right hand it left?"

Me: "Huh?"

5/09 - While walking in a parking lot Will yelled out, "This place is dusty!!! Jesus needs to send someone over here to clean this Earth up!"

5/09 - Will looked at me lovingly at church on Mother's Day Sunday and said, "Your hair looks like a farm." (Patting my head) "Farms look like this."

5/09 - Will: "Do mouses think we're giants? Because they're only this big (holding his little fingers about 3 inches apart) and we're this big (standing on this tip toes with his fingers stretched up to the sky)?"

2/09 - The other day, I took the boys to get Sam's picture taken. I wasn't paying too much attention to the older boys...then I heard Gabe.

Gabe: "Mom...Mom...Mom...Mom!"

Me: "What?"

Gabe: "I just fell in that girl's heart!"

I'm pretty sure that if this scenerio had been a cartoon, Gabe would have had hearts in his eyes!

1/09 - Will: "Mom, you're better than a monkey."

1/09 - Gabe: "When will you be a Nana and a Grandpa?"

Me: "When you have kids. Am I going to be called 'Nana' or 'Grandma'?"

Gabe: "I think 'Grandma'."

Mark: "What am I going to be called?"

Gabe: "King of the City."

Mark: "King of the City? That works."

1/09 - Will had his hands behind his back and was looking very mischievious...

Me: "Will, what's behind your back?"

Will (looking at his hands and shrugging his shoulders): "Um, just a couple of thumbs and some fingers."

1/09 - Gabe: "How did Heavenly Father make us? He must have a REALLY big factory!"

12/08 - Gabe: "Why don't we have a star on our tree? If we don't have a star, Santa might think we celebrate Hanukkah!!!"

12/08 - Gabe has a bit of a problem keeping his pants up...no matter what size I buy, they slide right off. The problem is caused by the fact that the boy has no bum. The other day Gabe and I were at my mom's house when once again he was tugging at his pants trying to keep them on...

Nana - "Gabe, you were NOT blessed with a butt!"

Gabe - "Mom, what's a 'butt'?"

Me - "A bum."

Gabe - (quickly turning back around to Nana) "I WAS blessed with a butt!"

12/08 - On the way home from preschool, the boys were looking at the Walmart ads...

Gabe: "Mom, do you want a microphone for Christmas? It's a a girl one."

Me: "No thank you, I don't think I want a microphone."

Gabe: "Well, what do you want Santa to bring you?"

Me: "I don't need him to bring me anything...I just want you guys to be happy."

Will: "No mom, you have to ask Santa to bring you something...he can't put 'happy' in his bag!"

11/08 - (Peanut is our neighbors dog)

Gabe: "I want a little dog like Peanut."

Will: "I want a peanut!"

Gabe: "Peanut might bite you, remember like when you bited me?"

Will: "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

11/08 - On the way home from soccer practice...

Gabe: "When we get home, I'm gonna tell daddy to get our Christmas boxes out, 'cause we don't have any Thanksgiving decorations."

Me: "You should ask him tomorrow, I think he's a little grumpy tonight." (He'd been working on a very frustrating work problem.)

Will: "He's not grumpy, he's just jealous at us!"

11/08 - Again, the topic is Christmas…Will REALLY wants a motorcycle (a REAL motorcycle…not a “small” one!).

Will: “Gabe, I’m going to eat LOTS of food today so my legs can grow big to fit a motorcycle! Mom-ma, I want a motorcycle!”

Gabe: “William, you have to put it on your list for Santa after Thanksgiving. He’s magic and can put BIG things in his bag! Mom doesn’t know how to do that.”

The Piton Perspective

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Camping with Dad

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