Stamps Postings

Guest Post by Greg:
This weekend I took Abby on a camping trip with two of her four year old friends and their dads. This first picture is of us taking off from home. Abby was pretty excited, and I don't think she really knew what to expect. When we stopped off for gas I bought her a pack of Extra bubblegum and let her chew two pieces at a time. She thought that was pretty cool, and it halfway made up for the fact that I didn't turn back when we discovered we had forgotten her "blankie"

The first evening before it got dark we wandered around near our campsite. First we walked down to the lake and the girls threw in sticks, rocks, and whatever they could pick up and toss. I've been telling Abby about Daddy-long-leg spiders for a while, and she was finally able to see some for herself, weaving and bobbing across the rocks. She reminded me that we can pull their legs off if we catch them. After the lake we walked back up to the campsite and the third Dad/Daughter pair arrived, so we walked back along a trail where we saw some deer tracks.

This second picture is Abby with her friends hanging out by the campfire. They were a bit silly running in and out of the screen shelter giggling, but mostly they hung out outside and ate smores, mesmerized by the campfire (I added to the pageantry with a can of lighter fluid). Once we finally made it to bed, Abby wasn't too thrilled about the temperature and humidity. The temps weren't bad, but it was a definitely muggy. We didn't sleep well. In the morning we ate some powdered donuts, packed up camp, and drove around to the other side of the lake for some hiking. The others had to get back for a pint sized soccer game, so just Abby and I set out on our hiking adventure. It was obvious there hadn't been much foot traffic around the trails this spring, due to all the rain. Everything was overgrown and mostly underwater. Abby liked splashing through the puddles and kicking all the mushrooms that were growing wild along the trails. Finally we started heading back to the car and I couldn't find the trail back up because of all the overgrowth. I've been on those trails a hundred times but couldn't find my way. Abby was getting tired and thankfully we finally found the steep path back up to the car. We loaded up on snacks and drinks and took off, just before the rain started. We were both tired from lack of sleep and hiking, so it was pretty quiet on the ride back. We were listening to country music on the radio and Abby says, "Daddy, I want a minivan." Hopefully there isn't a post about that in our future.