Cheap Thrills, Camping-Style

One of the most fun things about camping when you're a kid

is meeting new friends.

Unfortunately for Kyle and Kendall,

they met no one their ages at Franklin Lake this time around.

Still, they made a new friend in a little squirrel named Cody.

In constant motion, Cody popped in and out of our campsite all day

on Saturday and Sunday, helping himself to snacks

(as well as to the limited number of chairs around the campfire.)

He was a talkative, smart little bugger who was very curious. 

For instance, he was extremely interested in Mr.4444's tackle box...

I laughed SO hard at one point, when Mr.4444 had to wrestle Cody out of his chair.

In this scene, Mr.4444 followed through with his threat to perform
"The Chinese Water Torture" on Cody to get him out of his seat.
"What's that?" asked Cody....

Cody giggled like crazy (seemed to enjoy it, actually), but finally...

Mr.4444 had reclaimed his throne.

Cody was also very interested all things Kyle, so, in monkey-see, monkey-do fashion,

he did his best to copy his amazing no-hands, cup-sucking feat.

It was so cute, I had to take a photo or two...

Kyle was all "professional-cup-on-my-face,"

while Cody made it look a lot more like work...

What happened next, though, was priceless.

When Kyle finally removed his cup, it became instantly clear

that he had given himself not one, but THREE hickeys on his chin!!

OMG--I have never laughed harder or longer in my entire life

(cuz, yeah--I ooze empathy), and here is proof:

Seriously, I laughed and laughed and laughed til I cried!

(I'm keeping this pic small because it's not at all flattering,

but I had to share it, because it makes me smile.)

Kyle was such a good sport---In addition to taking a photo of me LMAO,

he posed for this one:

So, even though the kids found Cody a little annoying at times,

he provided much family-style entertainment

(and gave Kendall the little brother she's been begging me for for years.)

Which is nice,

but we left him there.

(I sure hope the kid found a new family!)