It was during this hike that I noticed that our children have acquired a computer virus. You see they've been spending too much time at their electronic media outlets and it was at this spot (around the mid section of a Grand Teton ) where the virus reared it's ugly head.They began to complain and lament about their situation
and it went something like this...
Kate.... I don't want to hike. I want to go shopping and see the celebrities at Jackson Hole.
Me...... Okay, we will do that later.
Grace .......America is too hot.
Me.... Your fine keep going.
Maria......I don't want to walk anymore.
Me... Too bad.
Rose... I want to go back and set up our camp now.
Me .... We will have plenty of time to do that later.
Joseph...... Angry and yelling at me..... I am too tired to walk.
Carry me...
This isn't any fun. I hate (va) "cation". I am never going on (va)"cation" again.
I will stay home!
Me and as sympathetic as usual... Suck it up boy ! I am not waiting for you so you better start walking.
Joseph..... I hope that a bear eats me and I die.
Me.... A bear would spit you out because you would taste sour.
*******
Now keep in mind that our Indian trail guide and I are nearly 50 and our teenagers in particular should be able to run circles around us. Our children have become soft. They act as though they couldn't endure the simplest of hardships. They have electronic atrophy.
I didn't realize that getting lost would absorb such a large chunk of our time and for some strange reason Joseph likes to have pictures of his feet taken and was always eager to have that done.
Here is a photo of our Indian trail guide pulling leaches off of our son. I said to our son it's a good thing that your dad is with us because I would 'a let them suck you dry before I would have ever touched them. 
5 comments:
I was always so ready for an adventure when I was young....
I do think our electronics and shopping malls have damaged our children.
The year I graduated from grade school my Mom threw my brother and me in the car and we drove from Minnesota to California. We returned by a different route to see more stuff. We were on the road for just short of THREE MONTHS - the entire summer! Mom believed in travel as education.
We stopped at every roadside historical marker, hiked, toured all the big cities, went to museums, and as my mother complained, "stopped at every reptile farm in the entire west." My Mom HATED snakes except we didn't know that then.
It was great!
Gorgeous pictures! That looks so fun; whiney kids and all. Later they'll have good memories of your trip. I'm living vicariously through other peoples vacations. Amy Wellborn's trip to Sicily was pretty cool, too. We don't get to go on vacation this summer; too busy going to weddings.
But you can keep the leaches!
Adrienne, Paul and I thought that was a cool thing that your mom had done for you and your brother. We decided that we could do that too... only not with the children. Their complaining made us miserable at times. Kate learns best by experiencing things first hand. So it was a terrific learning experience.
Another thing that Paul and I talked about was how many single women traveled alone. They hiked canoed and camped alone. It was surprising to me considering that I am too fearful to go to Kansas City alone. I felt sorry for them too because when you see something wonderful they had no one to share the experience with.
Your mother was brave to go on this trip without a man. I am always fearful that something terrible would happen from car trouble to leaches.
Melody, I would rather have traveled with Amy Wellborn. Does she like to argue? ;)
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