Our Mini Van Isn't 4 Wheel Drive ? ? ?

Our Mini Van Isn't 4 Wheel Drive ? ? ?

Who Knew? Apparently not Stephen. His latest brilliant idea was to take the kids up to the top of the mountain we live on. We live on Lake Mountain and at the top the elevation is 7,000 feet. So he set off with our adorable, always begging for an adventure with Dad, kiddos. Thankfully he thought enough ahead to put jackets on them and grab some packages of dry Top Ramen as they headed out the door at 3:30 pm.

It gets dark here by 7:00 pm and by 8:00 pm I was starting to wonder where my family had run off to when at 8:30 I got a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize. I answered it to hear Stephen's voice asking, "We're down in Stillwater, (a neighborhood about 5 miles down the road from us) can you come pick us up?" I've been married to my ever adventurous Stephen for 11 years now and didn't even have to ask what happened. I probably would have had he been on his cell phone, but seeing as how he was calling from some random stranger's phone I figured the story could wait until I picked them up.

I hopped in my car and drove down the road to Stillwater. As I turned into the subdivision I kept going up and up the hill and as it began to curve around, there in the road in the glow of my headlights, I came upon Stephen, Riley and Jackson. The kids had huge smiles on their faces, were dirty, disheveled and cold. Jackson was walking in his socks.

As Stephen gave me that sly "I know I'm in trouble" grin, I laughed and turned to ask Riley what she thought of their adventure. And off she went: "Mom it was sooo much fun. We got the van stuck in the mud. And there were tons of bugs in the puddles and it was so awesome. And Dad left his wallet in there and by the time he realized it we didn't want to walk back to get it. And Jackson got a huge blister on his foot from his shoes. Do you have any water I'm really thirsty? All we had was 3 packages of Top Ramen . . . "

The kids LOVED their adventure with their Dad. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. The reality of the situation was that Stephen got our minivan stuck in the mud - which is no big deal as he's gotten us stuck many a time. But he walked down that mountain for 5 MILES with our kiddos - 5 MILES. It was cold and muddy and they had no water. Jackson got a huge blister and had to take his shoes off. Stephen carried him for a mile and then Jackson just walked along the rocky path in his socks. They walked for 4 hours -- 2 of it in the dark. Yet even so my kids had the best time and will probably remember the adventure forever. Their dad may be somewhat irresponsible -- but no one can ever say that he is not FUN !!!