Outdoor Fun in Arp

May 21 we headed down to Arp for the weekend. We were going to celebrate Hannah B's 9th birthday and we stayed with Sugar and Poppa T after the party. It's always great to see the Boyers. They're the kind of friends that you don't have to work hard to be with. They just know you and you them. It's a super bonus that the kids all really love each other. We stayed over at their house much too late and then headed to Arp. The next day Aidan and Poppa T spent most of the day outside together. Aidan was in absolute heaven!!! His first request when he walked in the door was to go fishing with Poppa T. This is always a highlight on any trip down to Arp. Sure enough, first thing in the morning Poppa T found an empty can and they went to dig up some worms to take on their fishing trip. This was another highlight.

Okay, really, everything there is a highlight for Aidan. Right now he really wants to be a park ranger when he grows up. He LOVES to be outside in nature so trips to hang with Poppa T are the best! Incidentally, he also really loves white T-shirts with a pocket. He never gets very excited to receive clothing unless it's a white pocket T-shirt. An axe in the pocket is just a bonus.

This trip Poppa T had just rented a cherry picker so that he could get high enough to power spray the top of their house. He took Aidan in and showed him how to run it and then Aidan took everybody up for a turn in the treetops. Understandably, he really enjoyed getting to run a giant piece of machinery. What boy wouldn't?!

Next on the list was fishing in the pond. Gotta put those worms to use! After getting the right size hook on his pole he reeled in his first of two catches that afternoon. It was hard to tell who was more excited - Aidan or Poppa T. Dad was always excited like that when I caught fish too. :)

In typical Aidan style, he did manage to find an ant pile outside the house. He alerted us to the pile by stepping in it accidentally and getting his feet covered in ant bites. :/ His little feet were so swollen by Monday morning he couldn't go to school because he was waddling like a little penguin and he couldn't get his feet into his shoes. The happy ending to the story is that his feet got better and we are now getting an epi-pen just in case he ever gets a sting from a bee or a wasp. His reaction is so strong to ants and mosquitoes that I'm a little fearful of what other insects might do to him.

Olivia did go on this trip with us. She is not so much into the nature activities, though, so she stayed inside with Sugar most of the time. We all had a lot of fun!