Unexpected Surprises

Friday morning at the breakfast table, I got my first surprise. I half jokingly said to Abbey, "Daddy doesn't have anything on his calendar for this weekend, want to go camping with just Daddy?" Unexpectedly, she looked up at me and said "Yes."

I clarified. "Without your Mommy?"

She said,"Yes."

Julie checked with her throughout the day to make sure she understood that this meant spending a night away from home without Mommy. When I got home from work, Abbey was ready to go.

So we drove north and finally found an open campsite when we got to Pines Point campground on the White River in the Manistee National Forest. Abbey slept on the way up, so she was wide awake and a big help with setting up camp. She even had enough of a second wind that we lit a campfire and sat up by it until 10:30pm.

We had a restful night's sleep and slept in late. Then we had a leisurely breakfast of grilled cheese sandwiches and fried eggs cooked over the fire.

In the late morning, we went for a short hike at Abbey's request, then decided to drive over to Freemont for some lunch on the way home.

When we got to Freemont, Main Street was blocked off and there was a huge carnival going on. While I had heard of the event, I didn't know that this was the weekend for the National Baby Food Festival. Being the home town of Gerber, the idea of a National Baby Food Festival is not quite as weird as it sounds.

We took advantage of the cool, clear day and the unknown surprise and mingled about the rides and booths, considering our next step. Abbey finally decided that, after lunch, she wanted to ride the merry-go-round and get some ice cream. So that's exactly what we did.

I'm looking forward to the next time I have a weekend with nothing to do.