Santa

Last friday Mercedes spent the day at our local zoo with her two best friends.  Naturally, Cooper was NOT happy to be excluded from such fun.  So I loaded the boys in mom's little blue car and we set off in search of some tide-pools to explore.

There is a State Park just south of us with "more than 1,800 feet of saltwater shoreline on the Puget Sound" (or so it's advertised).  A friend told me about the fun to be had in the tide-pools there.  When I hear the words tide-pools I remember exploring Laguna Beach as a teenager, and I was envisioning the same memories being created in my boys' minds.

After a winding drive down a road that seemed to lead to nowhere (and in the middle of nowhere), we finally entered the park.  Yay!  And it was only then that I realized that we couldn't park there without cash for a park pass.  The two options offered (according to signs posted almost everywhere) were to 1- deposit $10 into a box, or 2- go to wherever fishing and/or hunting licenses are sold to buy a daily "Park Pass" for $10, or an annual "Park Pass" for $30.

I NEVER carry cash.  This is because it is much too easy to spend.  It literally burns holes through fabric. Rather than ruin a perfectly good purse, wallet, or pants, I conscientiously get rid of it as quickly as possible.

Since I'm no dummy I chose part b of the second option.  Why pay $10 for a day (maybe 2 hours - if that) when we could enjoy all WA State Parks for an entire year for just a bit more?  Good for us there was a Cabela's back near the freeway (and civilization).  We high-tailed it over there and entered a very crowded adventure-supply wonderland.

After purchasing our annual pass we spent some time checking out the array of "stuffed" wildlife, some (living) trout and catfish, practiced our aim at a "shooting range", and chose some tasty treats for our movie night.  (Thanks to an indulgent and loving :) pair of grandparents, my kids think that movie night is NOT movie night without a treat).

Walking to the car with Lincoln's hand in mine and Cooper leading the way, Lincoln looked up at me and said:

"Mommy, does Santa work with Jesus?"

"What?!?"  

"Did you say Santa?"

"Yeah.  He must work with someone.  So does he work with Jesus?"

I don't even remember my answer.  

I'm still trying to figure out how an elk and some moose and a rhinoceros lead to thoughts about where Santa works. I think I said something like, "Well, I can see how you might make that connection (they both give us gifts continually), but I think that Santa works at the North Pole..."

What I love about our littlest is that this is the kind of conversation we have every day.  

Maybe one day soon we'll actually use our new pass...