Aleister turns two

We arrived in Adairsville, GA last Sunday to visit with our daughter Gretchen, husband Bo and grandson Aleister. Luckily, this is also one of our favorite RV parks, Harvest Moon, with level, wide sites and all hookups that are logically arranged. Plus they have reliable free Wi-Fi, cable TV, laundry and free popcorn on demand.

It addition to our regular desire to see everyone, this time the big event is Aleister’s second birthday. We understand that visiting Aleister on roughly a six month basis is a little like living the movie “50 first dates”, where you have to reintroduce yourselves each time. We arrived a day earlier than planned to avoid forecast weather and our unhappiness with the last campground. Shortly after arrival we had our first excitement, when I noticed that a small fire seemed to be spreading near the back edge of the campground. I dispatched my able assistant to the office and almost immediately a fire engine entered the campground. It seems that they were not as fast as I first thought, since we talked with the occupant of a camper next to the fire, who had called the fire department directly.

Since we arrived a day early, Gretchen and family came by for a visit that first evening. Aleister just loves big trucks and cars and immediately was taken by the size of the motorhome. As soon as he settled in, he found his favorite spot.

Needless to say that Aleister has changed a lot since we seen him last. He is now a high energy driven boy who can walk and run at high speed. It also seems that he is getting ready to hit the terrible two’s hard. He remains a happy and cheerful kid-as long as we all do what he wants and he is allowed to do what he feels like. Since that cannot happen, mostly for his own safety, he likes to test the limits all the time-loudly. For example, he loves to be outside and run around and climb stairs and more stairs. Unfortunately, he climbs them well, but thinks he can walk down like and adult and would crash and burn every time without help. This and keeping him out of the areas where dangerous spiders or snakes might lurk, makes watching him outside a full time job. There was, in fact, one three foot plus snake spotted by a contractor during our stay and brown recluse and black widow spiders have been found on more than one occasion.

Like most lucky children with loving parents and grandparents, he is a bit spoiled and has way too many toys. I spent quite some time cleaning the official play area of the back yard, where I notice he spends less time than climbing the dreaded stairs. Of course, the highly successful birthday celebration only added to this excess. We all had a great time and ate too much cake and ice cream, but what the heck-that is part of what makes a great birthday party. So Happy Birthday Aleister!