Boys will be boys

I've had a most excellent day today with my two grandsons, Nathan and Connor! It actually started last night with popcorn, Harry Potter, and a sleepover and continued into today with breakfast at Chick-fil-A, playtime at Monkey Joe's, toy shopping at Target, and the 3-D version of the movie "Monsters v. Aliens." We capped it off with some time at the park in Fayetteville followed by snacks and Bug Juice at the gas station store.

I think they had a really good time, but they couldn't possibly have enjoyed it more than I did. I had forgotten how much I miss dirty sweat socks, grubby hands, and giggling over phrases like "I could eat an ELEPHANT," and "Who farted?" At some point during the time we spent in the car, the conversation turned to GameBoys and what kind of games their Daddy played when he was a little boy. That got me thinking...

We traveled a LOT when my boys, Bryan and Benjamin, were little. With Dad in the Navy, it was not only inevitable, but expected. One of my favorite trips was a visit to England in the fall of 1986. We were living in southern Spain at the time, and at $10 a ticket, we couldn't resist hopping a MAC (Military Air Command) flight from Madrid to Mildenhall (by way of Aviano, Italy and Ramstein, Germany). It was a long flight in a cargo plane that I've mostly forgotten except for one memory. The Air Force crew flying the plane were some of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. Mindful of these three little kids they had on board, they were kind enough to invite Annike and Bryan up to the cockpit to watch as we made our nighttime flight over the English Channel (I don't remember if BJ made it up there or not--he may have been asleep at the time). Anyway, Bryan happened to take his brand new GameBoy up to the cockpit with him and the flight crew were fascinated with it. I wasn't in on the conversation, but somehow they talked Bryan into letting them borrow it and I think they put the plane on autopilot for the next hour or so while they had a go at Doctor Mario or whatever game Bryan had with him at the time!

We landed safely at Mildenhall and spent the next couple of weeks driving the length and breadth of England, Scotland, and Wales. It was a terrific trip (and the impetus for finally potty-training BJ!). After almost three weeks of stuffing five people and a massive sack of "nappies" in a car the size of a Mini-Cooper, Randy had had enough. The minute we got back home to Spain, BJ was out of diapers. But that's another story!

Suffice it to say, I can't begin to express how much I miss those days that I thought would make me nuts at the time! Here are a few pictures taken during that trip.

Thank GOODNESS boys will be boys!