20110716 - Dylan's Day

20110716 - Up early and D and I head out for our annual 'Dad &Me' day; a day where I go with just one of the boys and we do something fun, adventurous, what ever they want to do, up to midnight. First stop was Joes to drop something off for the Bible Bangers. Then to the gas station to get supplies, water, candy and more candy. Then we hit McDonald's for a good healthy bfast :-) On down the road heading south, our first stop is to look at some box vans. The next stop was a rest stop where we saw a single man helicopter land and found a couple geocaches. We past a flea market so we had to do a u-turn and go back to explore: no major finds.

Onward to the canoe place where we boarded a bus with a couple dogs, drunks and other families to hit the river for a couple hours. We put in and headed down stream. We made a put stop at a natural bridge that was pretty cool, but scary (for me, not D) to walk across.


Back on the river and we we had a good time, almost flipped over once, stopped to skip stones and have a snack. I put D in the back and forced him to learn how to steer a canoe. He wanted me to switch him at first, but I insisted he keep trying and he got it. I think he is a bit reluctant to try new things (just like his mother...) as he wanted to but did not participate in jumping off the old railroad bridge or any of the rope swings we passed...


I think D had a good time and learned something. I know I enjoyed just floating with I'm, hearing his stories, watching him study how we drifted over the water and was still my little boy.

Arms a bit rubbery and just a bit wet we headed to the next destination. We got there, got harnessed up and heading up into the trees for a couple hours of zip-line fun.


We were a group of Russians from Cleveland that amazed D as they talked in Russian and did crazy things. It was two brothers and their girlfriends. Just as last year I volunteered D to go first and he took right off.


The little girl guiding the tour had to ask him to slow down and wait for the rest of us a couple times. He is like a monkey up there and loves it. We had a blast and commented on the different obstacles and how hard, easy or scary they were. This is one time no depth perception cones in handy, I really can't tell how high up we are... After completing 52 airborne challenges and 18 zip lines we headed to the mother of all zip lines, a 500 foot stretch that goes over a pond :-o man was that fun!!!

YouTube Video

Harnesses off, arms rubberyer (i just made up that word) back in the car, sustained today by Oreos, gum and water we headed to an ATV place. We got there, took the safety class and mounted up on out 350cc Grizzly 4x4 4 wheelers. The girl took us on an 8 mike trail, through mid holes and ruts and steep hills and deadly hair pin turn, all thing that would make his mother faint... and he did really good, only running into 3 trees (vast improvement from last year...). We finished up that trail and the girl and I decided it was best if we stay in the field and follow those tracks around, so that is what we did almost until the end. At one point D came up and looking purely exhausted I ask I he had enough and without hesitation 'yes'. We headed back to the office where D finally got to rest his arms and watch me go over a really cool obstacle course with teeter totters for the 4 wheelers and other ridiculous things.

YouTube Video

Arms spent and energy gone we tried to get dinner at a diner we like but it closed just minutes before we got there. So we headed into Logan to find a place to eat and just our luck we found a Chinese Buffett :-) Without mom around to through in a veto vote the car nearly drove itself there and D and I filled up.
Back on the road and D was asking what else we could do. I figured there would be more caches On the way home so we went into a cool park and found this huge rock ready to fall on the road and smash someone (this actually made D quite nervous...).


But no caches... It saw getting dark so we hit one more gas station for coffee and hot coco to get us home. On the way home D and I had some really good conversations about everything that popped into our heads. Back in our town now and into the drive and sadness sets in as our day is almost over. We get in, our stuff unpacked and cleaned up. D fought his closing eyes to stay up till midnight, he wanted every minute he could with me today; and I too treasure every second with still this little boy, growing up all to fast... It really doesn't matter what we did today: we did it together and had fun doing it. Thanks for a perfect day God. I hope you give us many more.