Page 9 of Daddy's Little Camping Trip
He looked at me, smile bright. “I did. I walked out a way and listened.”
We were very much not the same.
“Oh, that sounds so peaceful.” I was trying to be supportive and hoped I didn’t come across as insincere because no part of listening to nature when you were trapped in it sounded like fun to me.
“You heading to breakfast?” I dropped my toiletry bag into my suitcase and zipped it up.
“I’ll be down in a bit. I think I want to journal a little about what I heard this morning.”
I went on my way and smelled breakfast before I reached it. Bacon. I already knew I loved breakfast. Didn’t matter what else they had, I loved it to pieces.
Looked around, found G, and walked over to sit with him and his friends. I sort of knew Hudson from the playroom, and his daddy, Bridger, who I hadn’t met, was familiar to me, which wasn’t surprising. It was a small world like that. We chatted as we ate our bacon and biscuits and scrambled eggs. It was actually the perfect meal for the morning.
At first, I had been sad that we had company, but I really liked Bridger and Hudson and was glad they joined us. That didn’t mean I didn’t want some alone time with G. Of course I did, but this was fun too.
After breakfast, we met around the campfire, which was currently extinguished, to get our next activity.
“Today’s first activity is done in partners,” Ms. Lily said. “You can be two littles. You can be a daddy and a little. Two daddies. If you feel more comfortable in threes, that’s fine, too. Everybody should come get a clipboard, and it’s self-explanatory.”
I looked at G.
“Would you like to play with me?” he asked.
Oh my gods, would I?
But instead, I let out a very quiet, “Yes, please.”
Went up and got the clipboard, and sat down.
“Looks like it’s just a scavenger hunt,” he said.
I read through the list. Most of it I could find just from the little exploration I had done the day before. But then, as I reached the second half, I realized…it was game on.
“Is there a prize?” Because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t motivated by winning, at least for activities where I was part of a big group.
“Yes. For first, second, and third,” he confirmed, scanning down the sheet on the clipboard.
“Then we’d better go.” I grabbed his hand and started leading him toward the first clue. It was a little golden star abovea purple moon someone had tacked to a tree. It looked like it had been there for eons, not just there for the game.
We went there, wrote down exactly where it was, and then moved on to the next clue, and the next, and so on.
I didn’t think I could have that much fun outdoors. But trying to find things, especially the small little architectural elements, was fun. I spotted a particular doorknob, and one oddly colored shingle on a roof. They really wanted us observant, or to work as a team, or just to spend a lot of time together. It didn’t matter which. I was having fun.
“What’s the last one, G?”
“It sayscalla. Do you know what that means?”
“There’s a lily named calla. Maybe we just need to go back to Ms. Lily.”
We ran so fast, but there was a couple in front of us.
“We lost,” I said and leaned in to his side.
“We don’t know that.”
“I’m sorry. Number four is wrong.” She handed them back their clipboard.
We still had a chance.
