This week AJ is on his last Sierra’s trip with Granny Cheryl before she moves up to Washington state. He was so excited to go spend time with his Granny and his most favorite cousin, Alliana. We spent Saturday preparing for the trip – buying him food and snacks, packing, etc. We drove out to Granny’s house at midnight to drop him off for the ride up there. I spent an hour hanging out with him before he left. He started sneezing a lot and it made me worry but we gave him a Claritin and gave it a shot. As they drove away, I honked good bye to them.
Over the next few days I didn’t hear much but Granny posted pictures to Facebook. She had him call me once and then I called him once. He was doing fine and having fun. No more sneezing but it was a little scary for him at night to fall asleep – he mentioned the river was really loud. I encouraged him to be strong and trust that everything will be fine. He told me that he went fishing and played lots of games with Alli and her friend Holly.
On Wednesday he called me all by himself… he always loves to talk to me when I call but he rarely takes the initiative to make a call. Well he had been playing hide-and-go-seek with his cousin Alli and another girl that was there in the forest area near camp. Alli had taken off and he and this girl were left in the forest, unsure of how to get home. He fell down and scraped his knee pretty bad. They ended up finding the way to get back to camp. He was calling because the whole experience really shook him up. He said his knee was fine but was cut. I told him to be aware of his surroundings so that anytime he is anywhere, he knows how to get back home. I encouraged him to be strong and that everything would be fine. I love that he called me to share his experience and that he still wanted his mom to know when things got challenging. I love that we are still so close and that he appreciates being close to me. <3
Granny told me that AJ was somehow in charge of the game tent and everyone was listening to his rules - he ran everything. He called me at one point very upset that Alli and Holly were not hanging out with him. Granny said that lasted all of an hour and that he was fine. All three of them came back very thankful for the trip and very close. There were some other kids that joined them there as well.
AJ told me that he had a great time fishing but only grandpa Glen caught anything. He used the new pole that Granny got him. They also caught 17 tadpoles and panned for gold. He loved hanging out on the hammock with the other kids and also exploring around the camp. The very last day they saw a bear across the water. AJ wasn't scared though - he thought the bear was cute. :)
The ride home was one to remember. There was a hurricane in Mexico that brought very unusual weather to California. There was also a fire blocking the main route that they usually took home. So they went on a different highway and were in lightening and thunderstorms the whole way home. Granny Cheryl's mirror had previously been hit on a trashcan and she taped it to the car. The rain loosened the tape so Alli had to become a human mirror. AJ was very worried about getting home and it took them about 8 hours of driving to finally make it.
We met at Grandma Violet's house. It was the first time I saw the for sale sign in front and the day she accepted an offer.... off to Washington they go!
Posts
