Playin' in the Dark

Last night on the way home from church Brody said, "Can we play Ghost and Explorers when we get home?" I was suddenly taken back. Taken back to a time where I was laying in bed listening to my dad tell me stories about when he was a kid. I remember him telling me all about the game called Ghost and Explorers; but I don't ever remember playing it. I know that we played hide and seek in the dark...but not Ghost and Explorers. As soon as those words were out of Brody's mouth I knew that Daddy Steve had been telling him stories.

I asked Brody if Daddy Steve told him a story about playing Ghost and Explorers and he said, "We played it before church, but Daddy Steve said it works better when it's darker." I asked him how you play (just to see if he really knew what he was talking about). He responded, "One person has a flashlight {the Explorer} and they count to 8 while the other person {the Ghost} goes and hides. Then the Explorer looks for the Ghost with a flashlight and when they get close the Ghost jumps out and scares them!" He described the game just like I remembered from the stories I'd been told as a kid. When we got home, we grabbed a flashlight and played 2 times before going to bed.

As soon as it got dark tonight, Brody begged to go outside and play Ghost and Explorers. Mike and Barrett were playing inside, so I headed outside with Brody (or Bubba as he's called a lot around our house...don't know if I've ever mentioned that on here...but that's all Barrett will call him!) We played game after game after game. It was fairly easy to find Brody because he'd start laughing uncontrollably whenever I'd get within 15 feet of him! I tried to hide where it was a challenge to find me. After Brody looked for maybe 45 seconds, he'd start shouting, "Mommy? Where are you???" I'd clear my throat or rustle some leaves to get him moving in the right direction. He'd laugh so hard he'd fall down when he'd find me. Of course, that had me laughing too!

I could tell he had a lot of pent up energy, so I suggested playing tag. It's a little more challenging to play tag in the dark (and avoid running into trees, the shed, tripping down a hill, etc). Thankfully we didn't get hurt...but we did have a lot of fun! When we started to get tired of chasing each other, we sat down in the grass and looked up at the stars. Brody exclaimed, "WOW! There are MILLIONS of stars up there!" We talked while we looked at the stars and then we used the flashlight to look at the tops of the trees. We talked about everything from how God made the stars to what worms eat to "why do leaves have to die?". Such is the mind of a 3-year-old boy. I love it!

When we came inside it was almost bedtime, but the boys couldn't go to bed without a few races on Brody's race car track. Mike, Brody, and Barrett all took turns racing. Brody and Barrett were pretty disappointed when I announced that it was time for jammies.

At bedtime tonight, Mike got out a photo album that had pictures of Remington as a puppy. He told Brody stories about when we first brought Remington home and what life was like our first year in Kansas. Brody soaked up every word that Mike told him...and I'm sure I'll hear the stories repeated tomorrow.

We had a wonderful night as a family tonight. I'm so in love with my boys (all three of them)!