Say It Isn't So

My eyes are getting a little misty around here these days. Jason and JR are leaving for South Africa on Thursday. I can't believe he's taking my baby from me for 10 days! They're going with Jason's dad and step mom and will be staying on a ranch a few hours from Port Elizabeth. Obviously I was supposed to go on this trip (it's been planned for way over a year), but even my husband who has drug me all over the world and back, admitted that it would be best if we didn't take 3 month old twins on the trip. So, I will be staying here while my 4 year old's passport accumulates more stamps than mine. The one thing I'm glad I am missing is the flights. Because of their all day layover in Frankfurt, it's going to take them a full 48 hours to get there, and 48 hours to get home! Jason's convinced that JR is just going to "sleep on the plane". Um, okay...and how many times have you flown from Beijing to Houston with JR by yourself? Oh that's right, none. So, just in case JR doesn't just "sleep on the plane", I have a whole arsenal of activities lined up for his backpack. I've got activity books, coloring books, crayons, markers, notepads, Old Maid, Go Fish, magnets, trucks, and a Transformer...all brand new of course. Any mom that has ever traveled with a kid before will tell you that the "brand newness" of the item is in direct correlation with how long the item will be entertaining.
So why take JR to Africa when he's 4 you might ask? Well, because Jason went to Africa for the first time when he was 5 (and JR will be 5 in May). Here's Jason and his dad (and their fabulous heads of hair, although Gary is wearing a cap, so it's hard to see its fabulousness...but he does have his shirt unbuttoned to his bellybutton in true Gary Ingersoll fashion) in Kenya in 1976.

I think Jason was actual gone for 36 days, or something crazy like that, but at least his mom was with him. Sherry, I still don't know how you endured living in a tent for that many days!
So do I want my baby to be going off to the wilds of Africa? Of course not! But Jason and his dad have been talking about this day since JR was born. And to JR it's just another day: "Oh, yeah, and on Thursday I'm going to Africa. I'm going to see a lion, but I hope I don't see a bear. I'm scared of bears." JR, I hope you have a wonderful time. And Jason, You better take care of my baby!