Porky Pine Cones, No Stress Recipes, and Crooked Teeth

Last week was Gibson's spring break week. We went to the mountains for a little camping and some good quality R & R, and had an absolutely fantastic time hiking waterfalls, roasting s'mores, having cookouts, and laying in the hammock. (Not all at the same time, of course.) But now that we're back, I'm in a bit of a slump on the blog here. It's not that I don't have things to write....... I'm just not that motivated to write it. However, since my good friend, Janice, left me a tiny plea the other day ("Where oh where is Rachel? I miss her blog.") I thought I would try to accommodate.



So, in the spirit of punctual blogging I'll share some spring break highlights with you. (**Disclaimer. To any of you licking your chops over the mention of spring break highlights, please let me inform you that these may not be the kind of "spring break highlights" you're hoping for. No gratuitous boobie-flashing, or raunchy drunken party antics were happening at our campsite. And unfortunately for you, the folks at site 113 wouldn't let me bring my camera.)

Highlight #1
While hiking to a waterfall, Mike picks up a small pine cone and hands it to Landis. (Landis being the kid who finds the beauty in all things "ordinary", like small grey rocks and dead leaves.) Anytime we hike, he will spend inordinate amounts of time scouring the grounds to find the perfect treasures to carry around with him for the day. Actually, let me rephrase that, because what I really meant there was that he will spend inordinate amounts of time finding the perfect treasures for ME to carry around for the day.
Mike: (Handing the pine cone to Landis.) Here, Landis. Look what I found.
Gibson: (Excitedly) Oooooooooooo! Landis! That's a porcupine! (Long pause...........) I know what it does! It PORKS ya!
Rachel: (Falls down laughing.)
Gibson: (Looks confused.)
Now that I re-read that, maybe it was more hilarious if you were standing there when he said it, because what made it so dang funny was that he meant it. And he was extremely proud of the depths of his seemingly endless, and scarily accurate, environmental knowledge. After all, if you're not careful about how you hold it, it will pork ya. And I don't know about you, but I'm not at all interested in being porked by a pine cone.

Highlight #2
Dancing around our campsite, the boys start sing "Hakuna Matata" -- you know, from the Lion King? (It's been the movie of choice lately.) In their minds, the song goes like this:

Hakuna Matata....... Aint no passin' craze
It means no worries, for your recipes.....
It's our problem free, phisosophey....
HAKUNA MATATA!

Which completely cracked me up, because I happen to know that the song lyrics don't really have anything to do with low-stress recipes. And also that they have no idea what the word philosophy is. It took me right back to the time when I thought Jimmy Buffet was wandering around Margaritaville looking for his "chiggerin' saw".

Highlight #3
And perhaps the most exciting highlight of the week.......drum roll please........... Gibson lost his first tooth! (Mah Baby! Isn't he way to little for this sort of thing?!) We couldn't believe it because we hadn't even known it was loose, but the G-man could not have been more proud of himself. Of course, judging by the way his permanent tooth is coming in, the poor kid is going to have some serious orthodontics happening in his future. Though I can't say I'm all that surprised..... between Mike and his adolescent head-gear, and me and my non-stop expanders and braces, the kid didn't have a chance.