Fishing at Lunga Park

When we first found out we were coming to Quantico, VA, we were excited for the opportunity and down-time we would get. When we found out our friends the Claytons were coming too it made it that much better. My friend Missy and her two boys Ray and Adam, aka Boat, are very close in age to Mason and Ethan, respectively. Mason and Ray went to preschool at Woodbine for a year together and we stayed in touch when Ray changed schools. We love having them here and it's nice to give someone familiar a call in the day and just chat or spontaneously meet up for a play date. Lunga Park is a really nice park area on the base up at Quantico. On our way up to this playground area we passed by a family of deer where a baby was racing through the trees circling its mom and dad. It is such a tranquil place and the deer had no fear of us in a running vehicle only 50 yards away. Still keeping our eyes out for more wildlife, Mason and Ethan both swore they saw a bear get sprayed by a skunk who then proceeded to pour a can of tomato juice on himself to get rid of the smell. Just call us the Big Fish family.

Ray and Adam got both Mason and Ethan starter fishing poles for their birthdays and so we took them to the lake to try them out. Mind you, they still had the little rubber fish attached to the string so they weren't catching anything, but that didn't matter. Adam, who will be 2 in the next couple of weeks, was showing them how to cast it out properly. What a hoot he is! He would cast it was out, start reeling it in and shout"I got a bite, I got a bite!" Too funny! They'd been hanging out at their grandparents' house in Ohio perfecting their skills so they had a lot to teach my boys about the great wide open. Mason thinks all grandparents live in Ohio now and wants to know when we are going to visit Ohio and when Ray is going home.

Speaking of Big Fish, our neighbors were telling us that they had been privy to hear one of Mason's stories over lunch one day. If you don't already know, Mason is our weaver of tales. Apparently, a Virginia opossum attacked Ethan one day and threw him over the roof. Niko was able to catch him and pass him to Mason who then threw him back to the opossum. Since Virginia opossums are known to throw little brothers into the air, that's what the opossum proceeded to do with Ethan, again until Niko saved him and put him to bed.

Ahhh...I can just imagine the day his new kindergarten teacher calls me to tell me she's reported us to the CPS because Mason told her we locked him and his brother in the attic with the blue yeti. Or maybe it will be the one where monkeys come out of the freezer and attack mom and Dad because we're not being nice that day. Nice of course constitutes juice whenever it's demanded, corndogs for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and sleepovers at anyone's house but ours every night. Ethan is starting in on the stories. Yesterday at lunch, he announced to Matt and me that he wasn't going to eat Chewbacca because he was too hairy and too fat. Why, oh why did I encourage that imagination so enthusiastically???