Hap is the Kindergarten class mascot at Harpeth Valley Elementary where Jackson attends. Every 21 days, he gets to spend the night with us. It is a "flat stanley" concept where we write about the adventures he takes with us in a notebook to be read to the class. Hap comes equipped with his adventure book, a large clear backpack where he lives and a small red backpack with his lunch money in it.
The day Hap came home with Jackson, we had to check out early. Our adventures started with a trip to Vanderbilt's campus to have student ID's made for the boys for season sports tickets. Yes, we even get our kids tickets to the football games in the south. It is similar to religion, it just takes place on Saturdays. Jackson took his job of being Hap's guardian very seriously. Hap rode on Jackson's shoulder as we traipsed through campus, Me an overgrown college wannabe and my 5 and 2 year old and a stuffed dog. We were really a sight. All you moms out there know what it's like to have your ducklings following you ANYWHERE. Things like "come on, guys!", "stay with me!", "keep your hands to your self", "don't make me break out the spoon" were all things that were heard by all the cute college co-eds as we made our way to the student center to have our ID's made. It was extremely HOT and when we finally did arrive, I needed a bathroom, a drink of water and a little rest. Wrangling wild boars children on a college campus can really take it out of ya!
Of course, Hap (and the kids) were a hit in the ID office. Lincoln had a bit of a problem following directions and Jackson had to spend a little time in the "don't take your hand off my stroller" position but the ID's turned out great and Hap got to pose in the photo with Jackson. The way we see it, that entitles him to season tickets to any Commodores football game that we attend.
Through many threats, we made it back to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop where I had promised bribes to all law abiding participants. Thrifty mama had bought a groupon several months ago in anticipation of just such a need. The ice cream was well deserved in the heat and I needed to sit down again. Jackson and Hap had the Chunky Monkey and Lincoln had some type of vanilla to reduce the chance of a sure fire sticky mess becoming a brown sticky mess. Jackson made sure to offer some of his beloved ice cream to his little companion. As we sat, we talked about how to write about our adventure with little Hap. We had it worded perfectly. We had even taught him to say "Go 'dores!".
I realized that we had chosen to leave campus at the absolute WORST time of the day so we took a side street that led to an inner city park to hang out and wait for the rush hour to pass. We spent the next hour at Fannie Mae Dees, better known as Dragon Park. It is a community park that was built around a mosaic dragon. Did I mention it was HOT? Jackson and Hap climbed all over the sizzling dragon and Lincoln tried his best to follow suit. After I was sure I had melted into a caramelized pile of sugar, we set out for home. Dinner was consumed as Hap watched. I think we offered him some but he prefers dog food. We tried to give him some of Roxy's fancy new "grain free" food but he thought that it smelled funny (he's right). Hap supervised Jackson's bubble bath and got to witness our super cool yard sale find bubble machine. Jackson and Hap picked out our 2 bedtime stories and we sat down and discussed the final details of Hap's adventure story for his class tomorrow. After prayers were said, I was going to put Hap in his backpack so he didn't get left behind for school the next day and Jackson insisted that Hap must sleep with him in his bed. It was a sleep-over after all. Our next plan is to take Hap to his very first Vanderbilt football game so he can practice his "Go 'dores!" chant. He does, after all, have a season ticket!
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