Monday, January 18, 2010

Camp-Out adventures with the Easons!


Dennis and Linda live in a beautiful log cabin nestled on a three acre lot just a few miles from where Chad and I live. Their neighborhood is like a hidden gem...few people who live in Fleming Island know about Tara Farms! Most of Dennis and Linda's neighbors have horses (that you see being ridden up and down their street) and everyone has very large lots where the dogs roam and bark. Needless to say, Shepherd and Rauly have grown to LOVE going to "Meemaw and Peepaw's".

Well, for a few months, Linda has been talking about having a "campout" on their property and recently, she put her plan in to action! So, after a delicious Chili dinner, we gathered around the fire outside and roasted some "S'Mores". Yum! Dennis, Chad and Shep had already set up the tents, so once we all got in our p.j.'s the "men" went outside to brave the great outdoors. :) (Yes, the delicate ladies slept inside in our cozy beds...) It wound up being a really good spontaneous outing!


Poor Shep had a bit more excitement than any of us would've liked. Once it was bedtime, Dennis and Linda led the way to the campfire, but Chad and Shep were lagging behind getting a few things they needed for the tents. Shepherd (being impatient and not wanting to wait any longer) decided he didn't need his daddy's help and would just follow the light of the fire, so he took off with a flash light and started running to the back of their property. It took a few seconds before Chad realized that Dennis and Linda's property was divided by a fence,...he realized Shep probably didn't know this and also knew that it was probably too dark for him to see the fence...so out of fear of him barreling in to it, he hollered out for Shepherd to stop. But, just seconds after he hollered out, he heard a SPLASH out in the distance. As soon as he heard that, he remembered that his dad had begun the process of digging out a retention pond in the back of the property...at this point, the "pond" is more of a hole...he knew Shep had fallen inside of it. Well, the splash was immediately followed by blood curdling screams. Hooooly moly! Chad dropped everything and sprinted to where he knew the "hole" was and sure enough, when he got there, Shep was still inside just crying his little heart out...soaked and shaking all over. He cried for about 10 minutes. We got him inside and bathed him and eventually calmed him down. Chad was equally as shaken up...Dennis and Linda said they could hear him hollerin' to Shepherd from all the way on the back of the property "Shep - you're ok son, you're ok!!!"...I think he was afraid of what he was going to find and was yelling that out loud as a way of soothing his OWN fears! Oiy!

Needless to say, he is A-ok and he still had a wonderful camp-out! And something positive came out of it, he learned a valuable life lesson! Don't run in the dark and proceed with CAUTION! :)

2 comments:

Michael and Hannah said...

Y'all are so neat. I love the special family memories you make. You'll have to let us come up there and do a family camp out with you sometime!

Gina Harmon said...

I've told this story to several people and it's one of those that's funny, but horrifying at the same time. I can't imagine what I would have done if it had been one of you guys when you were little or if it had happened to me as an adult! Poor Shep!