Dude Camp: Just a couple of dudes doing dude stuff.

This past weekend, Jen went out of town to visit a friend, and I was left to wrangle Graham. Now, I don't want you to think that I was worried about a weekend with just the dudes. We have had the chance to hone our dude skills each Monday, while Jen is at her community chorus rehearsal. We've gotten pretty good at the mom-free supper/bath/bedtime routine, although it's always more fun to have her around. 

A mom-free weekend was something the likes of which we had not yet attempted.  Our level of success would be clear to all involved (and probably the neighbors).  My strategy was to hit the ground running Saturday morning and not stop until Mommy was back on Sunday.  To do this, I would be enlisting the help of... wait for it... CAFFEINE!

Our first stop of the day, as with many Saturday mornings, was Starbucks.  I told Graham that it was a special day full of surprises, and the first one was his very own overpriced drink from the coffee shop.  For those of you who may not know, Starbucks serves non-coffee drinks! Apparently, they have been doing this for years; I just never had any reason to investigate that far down the menu.  Personally, I'm still holding out for the espresso-in-an-IV-bag (fingers crossed).

Needless to say, Graham got super excited when they called his name to get his drink.  Unfortunately, the coffee shop was packed, so we had to camp out in the backseat of the car to enjoy all the frothy goodness.

Our next stop was the big surprise for the day.  There is a local general store/sausage factory/wedding pavilion outside of town (everybody has one of those, right?) that was hosting its annual Family Fun Day.  I had heard from co-workers that there would be lots of kid-friendly activities, so we decided to go for it.  What I didn't realize was that this general store/sausage factory/wedding pavilion was out in the boonies.  Had I known that, I might not have given our two-year-old a cup of warm milk before the half-hour ride.  As it stands, I had no such prior knowledge, so the last couple of miles were completed with the windows down and music blaring to avoid the dreaded late-morning (please don't sleep through your lunchtime because it makes you hateful) nap. 

Luckily, Graham only gave in for a couple of minutes, and I was able to wake him before he entered REM sleep.  When he awoke, it was into (for him and me) a whole new world.  For those of you who may have forgotten, we live in Tallahassee, Florida, so this little jaunt into the woods took us pert-near the Georgia line.  Now, when these good natured, honest folk get together it is something to behold.  Like any local festival, there were the requisite bounce houses, food vendors, pony rides (more on that later) and the like.  What was unique were the "art" vendors.  Graham and I cruised right on by the "put the rebel flag on anything" stand, and we did not feel obligated to purchase a hillbilly wine glass.  (By the way, if you're wondering what qualifies a wine glass as a hillbilly wine glass, I would assume it has something to do with the volume of the Mason jar, but I wasn't about to inquire.)

By the time we got to the festival, parked, and got truly immersed in southern culture, food was a top priority.  Luckily, we can smell sweet corn a mile away.  After a summer visit to Iowa (complete with teeth this year), Graham is a seasoned vet when it comes to getting every. last. piece. of corn off of an ear.  In case you were wondering, he was gracious enough to share a bite or two with me.

Om-nom-nom-nom.

I've got this.

Seriously, Dad, I've got this.

After breezing through his sweet corn, we headed to the ponies and the petting zoo.  Daddy quickly made the executive decision to bypass the petting zoo, even though we both are up to date on our vaccinations.  When we got to the ponies, we had to wait in quite a line (see the picture).  We had to harness all of our hard-earned Disney line-waiting tricks.  This was made a little easier when we realized that we were in line next to a couple of Graham's friends from the music class we attended last year.  This allowed for lots of feigned shyness and eventual flirting.  What can I say... He's got charm!

The pony ride was a success.  Mr Independent chose the biggest pony in the bunch, and refused to let me help hold on to him.  He insisted on more once the ride was over, but since there were scores of young uns waiting in line, it was a no-go.

The Great Pumpkinhead rides again!

"More, Daddy, More!!!"

We wrapped up our day of fun at the general store/sausage factory/wedding pavilion with a ride on the horse-drawn carriage around the pond.  Once we made it back to the car, I knew Graham didn't have much steam left.  He crashed hard in the car on the way home, and ended up with a 3+ hour nap.  Somehow, we made it through the rest of the weekend until Mommy came back (most of that was a blur, at least for me).  And while we had a good time being dudes doing dude things, it's always better when we can share our adventures with our main dudette.

"Dude?" "Dude."

 

 

Oh, and I think it goes without saying that there were other dude-type activities at the Reece household this past weekend.  Some of them may or may not have involved butt-flops on the bean bag in big boy underwear...