Saying goodbye is never easy. I imagine saying goodbye in Rockport to six year old Evan and ten year old Tanner was second only to leaving the only home they knew in Hooper, Ut. Rockport was our first home away from home and the boys had settled into the new routine with all the agility and ease that young boys do. Making a new friend almost immediately, Ethan became a fast and well welcomed fixture in the boys' room. Laughing, fighting, and playing through the days in the back of the RV. I was relieved they had found a good friend and had someone to play with. It helped with the brotherly rivalry some and reminded me of old times coming home to the house and finding various extra boys playing in their rooms.
Ethan's Mom, Kim, would take turns as referee for our little tribe. She had her fridge stocked with kids' snacks. Which made her RV a very popular hang out. The boys ran around demolishing their yard with Nerf bullets and had to be told to pick them up on more than one occasion. She baked us cookies more than once and even made a point to send us off with some on the day we left. We made sure to snap a picture of the three amigos in all of there glory!
Ethan's Mom, Kim, would take turns as referee for our little tribe. She had her fridge stocked with kids' snacks. Which made her RV a very popular hang out. The boys ran around demolishing their yard with Nerf bullets and had to be told to pick them up on more than one occasion. She baked us cookies more than once and even made a point to send us off with some on the day we left. We made sure to snap a picture of the three amigos in all of there glory!
In addition to their new found friend in Ethan, we came an unlikely pair of ruff and tumble youngsters on a trip to Goose Island State Park one day. The boys were climbing up and down the twisted, scraggly limbs of the old oak trees in the park. Stephen and I immediately recognized a playful adventure and followed our boys to join in a bit of tree climbing ourselves. The two youngster's parents were having an adult conversation with some sort of additional third party, so that left us playing with all four boys in our new found tree. Well to be honest I was more of a spectator really, but I considered myself a very good cheerleader. I was very impressed by the the other boys' climbing prowess and soon discovered that they were named Samuel and Jonathan.
Tanner and Evan were more skeptical about their climbing abilities than the other boys, fantasizing about falling flat on their face and such. Samuel and Jonathan quickly became my cheer-leading partners and demonstrators as they showed our boys how easy the sport of tree climbing could be. Tanner finally made it up the steep limb he had been inching along and I think they made a little progress in defying their fears of gravity. Stephen, in the end, got involved. Climbing up to sit on a limb himself and serve as forklift moving the boys from one limb to the other.
I don't usually take photographs that have various strange kids or adults in them if I can avoid it, but for some reason I snapped a few shots of the boys in the trees as a fond memory. After our boys had tired we took the liberty of playing Tarzan on some of the hanging vines, which are surprisingly thick and were able to hold our weight. Then we left Samuel and Jonathan behind to explore more of the park.
At the end of a long day we pulled into our RV park to discover Samuel and Jonathan playing right out front! The boys were elated, so we were required to make a full stop while the boys went back to investigate. Samuel and Johnathan turned out to be the children of a very interesting couple named Michael and Susanne. Susanne was from Germany, Michael was from Switzerland, and they had met through some mutual friends in California. Michael left a software job to open up a RV park in the United States.
Wilderness Oaks was the second park they had purchased in the area. I regret not having been able to spend more time with them as they were at their other park location for most of our stay. We did get various play dates and visits in when they came into town to deal with various park business. Near the end of their stay they came to the park full time but were traveling for part of it with family. We did manage to have one BBQ and numerous talks with them. Truly an unlikely event worth remembering.
Our send off from the park was very memorable as they also gave the boys some treats for the road. We plan to try to make it back to the park if we can. Rockport was definitely our first true home away from home.
Tanner and Evan were more skeptical about their climbing abilities than the other boys, fantasizing about falling flat on their face and such. Samuel and Jonathan quickly became my cheer-leading partners and demonstrators as they showed our boys how easy the sport of tree climbing could be. Tanner finally made it up the steep limb he had been inching along and I think they made a little progress in defying their fears of gravity. Stephen, in the end, got involved. Climbing up to sit on a limb himself and serve as forklift moving the boys from one limb to the other.
I don't usually take photographs that have various strange kids or adults in them if I can avoid it, but for some reason I snapped a few shots of the boys in the trees as a fond memory. After our boys had tired we took the liberty of playing Tarzan on some of the hanging vines, which are surprisingly thick and were able to hold our weight. Then we left Samuel and Jonathan behind to explore more of the park.
At the end of a long day we pulled into our RV park to discover Samuel and Jonathan playing right out front! The boys were elated, so we were required to make a full stop while the boys went back to investigate. Samuel and Johnathan turned out to be the children of a very interesting couple named Michael and Susanne. Susanne was from Germany, Michael was from Switzerland, and they had met through some mutual friends in California. Michael left a software job to open up a RV park in the United States.
Wilderness Oaks was the second park they had purchased in the area. I regret not having been able to spend more time with them as they were at their other park location for most of our stay. We did get various play dates and visits in when they came into town to deal with various park business. Near the end of their stay they came to the park full time but were traveling for part of it with family. We did manage to have one BBQ and numerous talks with them. Truly an unlikely event worth remembering.
Our send off from the park was very memorable as they also gave the boys some treats for the road. We plan to try to make it back to the park if we can. Rockport was definitely our first true home away from home.