First of Five

Well, I'm at Camp Sea Gull right now... the first of five weekends. So far, so great.

It's just me and Dylan this weekend. Ridge has a tennis tourney Saturday and a birthday party to attend, so he decided to stay in Raleigh. Dylan has me all to himself.

Dylan listened to his iTouch most of the way down, dancing and mouthing the words along to the Village People's YMCA over and over and over again. I listened to XM channel 44 and it's interesting that Dylan's dancing seemed to be in rhythm with the alternative rock I was tuned into.

We pulled into Neuse Sports Shop around 3:30, grabbing what seemed to be the last available parking spot. It was scary packed inside. No matter what aisle we headed up, there was a gaggle of giggling pigtailed princesses. Dylan and I grabbed our standard Neuse snack fare (Mountain Dew, Munchos and Zero Bar for me, hot fries and bug juice for D) and we got out of NSS asap. We ran by King's for BBQ sandwiches and hush puppies to have for dinner down at camp and booked on down 70 ahead of the tidal wave of tribes soon to follow.

The conversation the rest of the way down from Kinston to camp was not your usual chat between dad and eight-year-old. It started with Dylan's theory of how science and religion are probably closer together than most people think and wound up with a discussion about life on Mars and how our Solar System's sun is tiny in comparison with those in distant galaxies. What happened to the talks about SpongeBob and favorite jellybean flavors? They grow up so fast.

After arriving at Sea Gull, I assumed D would want to hit the shark tooth pile (as he always wants to do). But as the childish chats have been put aside, so too have some of the more kid friendly fun. Dylan wanted to go play golf. I'm sure he'll want to dig for teeth at some point, but first thing was to hit the links. We shortened the full 18 at camp to a more appropriate 6 holes, turning them into par 3's and he played great. Dylan has the patience and aptitude to learn the game and I think he has the talent to be a great little golfer.

After dinner we attended the ice cream social at the mess hall and as always, I am simply amazed at the rock-n-roll superstar that is Matt "Moose" Strickland. These kids follow him like he's the pied piper of fireballs. The girls giggle when he struts by and swoon if he says "How-How" to them. Heaven forbid if Moose actually hands them a fireball - they scream like they've seen a Jonas Brother.

This is my 5th year of Spring Outings and I cannot foresee ever growing tired of being here and the experience that is camp. But then again, check back with me in May...

How-How!