After Pam and the girls made some mean campsite breakfast burritos, he headed off to the river for more family fun. Once again we left AK in charge with strict rules that Little D was to stay close. Little D was in rare form in the morning. The kind where she sneaked into the soda cooler and had herself an all-nighter. She was wild and goofy all at the same time. Pam and I could have cared less as she was now AK's problem to deal with!
While heading to the river, AK told us how much fun she was having and loved camping! The girls were having a great time swimming in the river and enjoying each others company as Pam and I were equally happy to spend some quality time going on a small hike to survey the surrounding lands.
Upon our return from our hike, the girls found a massive river boulder to jump off of. They were enjoying each others company as they laughed and giggled with glee and held hands for the big jump! Life couldn't get any better. Both Pam and I were patting ourselves on our back for the incredible job of parenting we have accomplished. Our kids not only loved and admired us for all our hard work and efforts for taking them on vacation, but they also love each other and want to be on each other's side! Yep, life was pretty good when you have the incredible parenting skills we possess!
It was soon time to head back to camp and get Little D loaded up with protein and water. After all, we were on our game and didn't want grumpy Little D to make an appearance from lack of proper nutrition. We had some sandwiches, sat around and relaxed. AK played a prank on me as she suckered me into looking into a water bottle and making believe something was inside it with the incredible magic skills she has. There was something inside it all right...It's called water, and she squeezed the bottle tight as my eyeball was looking inside. After AK made sure I had a clean left eyeball and cleaned out sinus canals, we went back to the river for some great family bonding!
When we arrived back at the river, the girls ran off to go in the water as Pam, and I held hands in pride of what we were raising. They gently floated downstream and started their hike back towards us when Pam noticed Little D trailing AK, and AK having her not-so-happy big-sister-face on. When they reached us it was full force game on as each offspring from Pam were in a war of words over what to do next and why the other was being unreasonable.
I retreated in wonder as to what went wrong. But not Pam, being the star parent of the vacation, she went into full-on Mama bear mode with her new and improved "FU" finger and quickly put what she calls the "Divide and Conquer defense" into play. The Divide and Conquer is very simple. Pam takes one kid, and I take the other and we separate. This way each child gets their own attention and are not near the other sibling.
I quickly grabbed AK because she was really not the root cause of the problem, and Pam got to take on Little D as she was coming down from her soda-induced sugar high! Peace was soon restored as AK, and I played catch with a football for awhile and decided to head off on a hike. I enjoyed the walk a great deal as AK told me all about her wonders of the future and her hopes and dreams. I have always loved the junior high mind, but getting to really listen to your own child during the junior high years is a fascinating a gift. It seems that AK has grown up so fast that I have to remember to set some time just to really listen to her and enjoy the person she is becoming.
After and hour apart, we rejoined the family. Pam and Little D were skipping rocks and having an equally good time. It was soon time to return to camp and relax. The girls made up, and the joy of camping returned in the RV!
AK took control of the grill and did most of the cooking. She has become a quick study and once again grilled us up some amazing food! Little D was in charge of the fire and provided us some much-needed heat on the 95-degree evening!
After a wonderful campsite meal, a few cold ones and some quality time together. We decided to lay our tired bodies down for another joyful night sleep on a hard mattress with ice cold air conditioning. We were roughing it, but loving every minute of it!
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