Potholes

John gets these crazy ideas sometimes to go for a drive. This time I chose the destination and navigated, instead of him deciding. This made my trip much more pleasant. We opened up the gazetteer than we stole from his parents and I made a few suggestions of places I had heard him talk about, but had never been. Of the three options, he chose Potholes. I could go into some explanation of lava flow and the ice age, blah, blah, blah, but I really didn't pay too much attention to his tales of geologic formations. I didn't really care how the potholes got there, I just wanted to look around (for a place to pee). We hiked around a bit, played at the park, and wished we had a boat to go out in the reservoir.

We went the back way out of town, on roads that moseyed through farms and over hills I'd never before seen. I brought a book to read, and as great as the book is, I couldn't avert my eyes from the territory that surrounds my town. "Are we there yet?" was answered with "We are exploring! We don't know where we are going exactly, but isn't this fun?" They didn't even ask to watch a dvd.

We went to the park at the edge of the reservoir. There was a great playground and a campground. It looks like a nice place to have a family picnic/reunion. The girls made up some game that daddy was the ogre and they were princesses in the tower. They had beautiful princess names and Shawn was the prince. I'm not sure what the game was entirely, but it involved lots of screaming and running from dad. The best part was when he snuck up to the bottom of the tower and grabbed their feet or hands. They would go down the slide to escape the ogre, only to be scooped up at the bottom of it by the bad guy, swung around, kissed, squeezed, and thrown into the air.

It was such a joy to have a day with no rules, but it felt so final. This impromptu day trip is the last before my baby goes to Kindergarten. Gone will be the days of not having a schedule. It *almost* makes me want to sell the house, buy an RV, take a year off, and travel the country, homeschooling the kids all along the way. One of our dreams, right there.

Thanks Todd and Mandi for taking us in the spur of the moment to see your new home. We LOVE it, and we are so happy for you. I hope you can get settled in soon, it's an awesome house!