2003-09-10
This past weekend we opened the pop-up camper for the first time in a year. Last summer B's brother came to visit and we used it, set up by the lake, as our guest room. I guess I didn't step inside then, for I did this time and the distinctive smell--musty but not unpleasantly so--hit me hard. It took me back to B's and my last camping adventures, of which I have fond memories.
We opened it in preparation for this weekend. A friend has invited us to join his family and a bunch of others at a campsite on a lake 45 minutes from our house. We were thinking about just going for the day, reluctant to shell out the $80 it will cost to board the dogs for two nights, but opening the camper, smelling it, prompted both of us want to camp out.
So, it'll be Clay's first wilderness experience. Vegas one weekend and the woods a mere two weeks later. There's something cozy about having us all sleep in one room when we're in a hotel or motel, and I suppose it'll be even cozier in the camper. (Yeah, I know that lots of people sleep in the same room with their kids every night but that's a little too cozy for me.)
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Last night B had a meeting so it was just Clay and me for dinner. After we ate, I decided to introduce him to his first popsicle. I have this excellent mold from Williams-Sonoma (no longer sold there, it seems) that uses standard wooden sticks--none of that Tupperware bullshit. I'd filled it with a slushy mixture of frozen bananas blended with creamy whole-milk yogurt and a little sweetener. I'd had a couple already and knew they were good.
I decided that we'd split one, and brought Clay and the pop out to the front porch in case of dripping. He ate it like such pro--taking a big bite then handing it back to me--that I suspect he's had some popsicle experience I don't know about. (That's one thing about daycare--your kids have experiences you know nothing about.) Either that or he's a natural. Anyway, we polished the first one off quickly and then a second and a third before I said Enough.
Sitting out front with him, side by side on our bench, he seemed so grown-up. How I love him.
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