camping

The next morning we set out for the museum.  The Museum at the Brig at Farragut State Park captures the history of the Farragut Naval Training Station and World War II. The Brig is one of only a few structures left of the 776 buildings that were once on the base. The Brig houses a museum of boot camp, naval and war memorabilia dedicated to the 293,381 naval recruits who received their basic training there.  The boys participated in the Jr. Ranger program at the museum.  We actually took the wrong bike trail to the museum and ended up in the complete wrong direction.  By the time we figured it out and found our way to the museum we had biked several miles.  Kaiden was on his strider the entire time.  He's sooo ready for a real bike with pedals, but he's short like me and his feet don't touch the ground on his pedal bike.  After the museum we had to ride our bikes back to camp and Kaiden's legs were too tired.  So, being the little monkey that he is... we had him hang onto Jason's back while Jason rode his bike.  The boys wrestle with Jason daily and they know how to "get their hooks in" which means they grip with their legs/feet to hang on.  Plus he locks his fingers to hang on.  Sounds crazy and dangerous, but it worked.  Kaiden hung onto Jason's back the entire ride back to camp and didn't have any problems at all.  I rode my bike while balancing his strider across the handle bars.  My friend, Kimbarely was camping about 20 minutes away and stopped by to say hi.  We were going to go check out the beach area with her, but just after she arrived at our camp it started down pouring.  After the rain passed the boys found a baby ground squirrel.  We could hear the mother in the open area across from our camp site calling for her baby.  The boys stood guard to make sure the baby was safe since there was an Eagle flying overhead.  We watched the baby wonder around for a while, but his eyes weren't open yet and he couldn't find the tunnel system.   I finally put on some rubble gloves and put him in the tunnel.  Mom to the rescue.  After Kaiden's legs rested for a while we went for another bike ride.  This time I decided to be daring and take Piper on a leash while I was riding my bike.   This is the first time we have tried this and I thought for sure I would end up flipping over the handle bars and getting some road rash.  To my surprise Piper did great!  I had to remind her to 'heal' a few times and I gave a quick tug on the leash and she quickly learned to run next to my front tire.  When I say 'stop' she knows I'm going to hit my breaks and she needs to slow down to a stop.  When we're on the paved roads and a car is coming I would stop on the side of the road and make her sit until the car passes.  Then when we're on a narrow bike trail in the woods I would take her off leash and let her run on her own.  She did perfect!  In fact I've since rode my bike around our neighborhood with her on the sidewalks to give her some good exercise.  People are amazed when they see me riding my bike and holding her leash.  She's such a good dog!  She was so tired after our bike ride.  She crashed out as soon as we got back to the RV and didn't move much the entire evening.  It rained again, which is wonderful with an RV... we ate a delicious dinner and then played chess.  We haven't played chess for a long time.  I bet Jason the first game.  I was on the verge of beating him a second time when he "accidentally" cleared the board and we started over.  Then the third game went forever and I finally got tired of playing and started sacrificing my pieces until Jason won.  Jason and Connor we teammates and Kaiden and I were teammates.  Connor is actually pretty good!  He saved Jason a few times from making some bad moves.  We kinda played chess with Connor a long time ago before Kaiden was born, but this is the first time we have seriously played chess with him.  He's a great chess player!  I think I might have some competition.  We love our RV so much!  Best decision ever!!  We have the best family time together in that RV.  So much fun!