An Adventure - Part 2

 Hey!

Glad you came back! I'm really busy with lots of filing and voting people. Not much time for anything else. Oh, and I'm grading papers and preparing to teach writing class again today. But I don't have to work on Monday, so a 3 day weekend will be wonderful! I already have a list of things I need to get done.

Anyway, enjoy this next part. 

 

An Adventure
Part 2

    Our shoes thudded on the wooden stairs. “What do you need, Mom?”
    Looking up from redoing one of Lisa’s pigtails, Mom glanced at us. It only takes Mom two seconds to know if we’ve cleaned up or not. “Those shirts look good on you boys. Carry out the two coolers to the suburban, please. Then make sure everyone has jackets. Oh, and Randee, will you check and see if the blankets got put back in?”
    “Sure, Mom.” I wanted to ask where we were going, but Mom never said until we were all in the vehicle and on our way. Maybe that was a ploy to keep anyone from trying to get out of whatever we were doing. I picked up the larger cooler and shoved the screen door open with my hip.
    Tom followed with the smaller one.
    “Hmm,” I said softly, “two coolers, jackets, and making sure the blankets are in the car. Think we’re going to be star gazing?”
    “Maybe. It might be rather fun.”
    “Well, it’s a clear night for it,” I said.
    Opening the back of the suburban, I checked for the two emergency blankets we always kept in the vehicle. Yep, they were there, rolled up and ready. Our last trip had ended with a sudden downpour, and we’d spread the blankets over the seats to ride home requiring us to hang them out to dry in the sun the next day.
    After loading the coolers, Tom and I found jackets for everyone and put them in the suburban too. Returning to the house, we waited in the kitchen with Lisa. She didn’t know where we were going either.
    Soon Mom and the boys joined us.
    “The dogs put up?” Mom asked. “Chickens taken care of?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Then let’s get going. Everyone grab your water bottles.” She pointed to the counter where they all stood neatly in a row.
    There was a rush, a clatter of boots and water bottles, and a few calls for “shot gun!”
    “Randee is riding shot gun,” Mom called over her shoulder as she pulled the kitchen door shut and made sure it was locked. “I might need him. You boys get in the back. Tom and Lisa in the middle.”
    It was where we usually rode, but now and then Mom would let someone else ride in the front with her.
    Seatbelts clicked into place and the engine started. The suburban wheels crunched on the gravel until we reached the road and turned onto the blacktop. Then it was time to ask.
    “Where are we going, Mom?” I asked.
    “Aunt Angie invited us to join her and John at a park they discovered. The directions are on the yellow paper, Randee. You’ll have to navigate for me once we get out on the highway.”
    I picked up the paper. Mom’s navigating skills weren’t the best, and after trying to use that fake person on her phone telling her where to go and getting her completely lost, she always goes to a map and plots out her route. Then Tom and I take turns being the navigator. Unless we’re just having an adventure, and then Tom and I have to figure out how to get us home again, which is kind of fun because we aren’t always sure.
    Of course, when Dad’s home no one needs a navigator of any kind. Dad just seems to know where things are. Even if he’s never been there before. He might look at a map for a couple minutes and then he’s never lost. And sometimes he doesn’t even need a map.
    The drive wasn’t short, and the younger ones played the alphabet game and the “I’m going to Argentina and I’m taking apples for my lunch” game. It got quite hilarious because of what they said they were bringing for their lunch. I gave Mom the right directions at the right time, and we found the hidden park right where Aunt Angie said it would be.
    We found Aunt Angie too. She had brought her fiancé, John, with her.
    “Hey, guys!” Aunt Angie greeted us, giving hugs freely and talking as she hugged. “We’ll have to take our food on a little hike. There’s a perfectly lovely spot up on the hill with a view of the river and the trees. And the trees are almost at their peak and look so pretty! You all did bring jackets, though, right? Good. There’s a picnic table up there. John, can you, Randee, and Tom get the food? Bob, Joe, David, get the blankets from my car. Yep, those are the ones. Shannon, we might have to help carry water bottles.”
    “Why’d you bring your camera?” Lisa asked.
    “I always bring my camera,” Aunt Angie replied. “I like taking pictures.”
    “The boys don’t like having their pictures taken,” Lisa reported.
    “Well, maybe they won’t mind if I take them.”
    Tom and I had lugged our coolers out of the suburban. I hadn’t known we’d have to carry them anywhere. Oh, well. We could manage.
    It turned out to be quite a climb to get to the picnic table Aunt Angie had in mind. Bob, Joe, and David didn’t have much trouble since all they carried were a few blankets. But Tom and I had to stop a few times. John did too.
    “We should have brought along a mule,” John said with a grin. “Or eaten supper at the cars and then hiked up here.”
    “We’ll be plenty hungry when we get there,” I replied. “Hey, maybe we should just lighten the load and eat something now.”
    John laughed. “I like the sound of that, Randee!” He looked up ahead. “Except they are watching us at the moment. Come on, guys, let’s get going.” 

Have you ever had a picnic at a new park?

Do you like knowing where you are going?

Or do you like being surprised?