The Friday before last I left from work in the mid afternoon. Bentley had called to tell me he had everything ready to be packed in the car for our first camp-out, and that we should head out. My plan was to drive out to the Wasilla area and pitch a tent by Finger Lake. A fun campground within an hour's drive that seemed like a great first start. Unfortunately, as we packed up the car, some part of reality set in when the blankie made an appearance and a comment made "that he wouldn't want to forget that!" After nearly an hour's negotiation and reassurance that I wasn't taking him to the woods and dropping him off, we'd come to a bit of a new mission plan. First, we were going to the store for candy, fishing stuff, and postcards.
Unfortunately, two stores later, and nearing 7PM, it was looking hopeless to go camping... especially as my little camper reminded me that we could only go to the campground for "one minute dad, and then we'll go home". So, we went exploring places with the camera instead. We drove up the Knik River and stopped at the Eklutna tailrace for some snacks and to watch the fishermen, then went about 8 miles past the bridge and took pictures at some raging river by the headwaters.
Bentley thought it would be great to go see some farms - especially barns, so we crossed the river and went to the farms by the Butte. It was pretty neat to see the reindeer, bison, and moose, and Bentley enjoyed snapping pictures from his seat in the car.
Since it was almost 9PM, and we were feeling pretty hungry (since we couldn't make a fire to cook our dinner packed in the back), we went to plan B: McDonalds! 45 minutes later and we were back home from our adventure.
Day 2: Viva's day out.
Not as exciting as Bentley's, but she conned me into a trip to the mall on Saturday. Our little Fashionista really liked Best Buy's music instrument section, Zales Jewelry, the AT&T Cell Phone Store, and Old Navy. She found a new outfit and figured out a way to pay for it (El Banco Centrale Daddio)
We went and checked out Earthquake park and went for a short walk in the woods. She was in a good mood and felt like being a baby model while we were there (she thought the wind did wonders for her hair).
Then she twisted my arm into letting her go watch planes land at Point Woronzof, and we walked down to the beach. (I'd never been down there before). The wind was pretty chilly at that point, but we did our best to smile for the pictures.
Day 3: Jake's day out.
Well, Jake and I had less than 2 hours for our day out, but we went to watch float planes at Lake Hood, check out the airport freight traffic, and go to Point Woronzof. There were no big cargo jets landing for us, but we did get to see one of the ocean liners pull out from the harbor and head down the inlet. Jake thought it was a big boat! However, he was less than enthralled with the wind.
We got a few more pictures, then headed home. Jake, having skipped his nap to make the trip, fell asleep for the car ride home, the ride to Grandpa Tim's house for dinner, and slept through 1/2 of the movie while we were there. He made up for his downtime by shooting pool with Bentley, Viva, Tyler, Grandpa, and Allie.
We're going to see if we can have even more fun this next weekend!
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