Mickey's military surplus. Ethan turns 17

What to get for a 17 year old with discretionary funds and access to Amazon prime? 

A trip to Mickey’s Military Surplus to hunt for “treasures”, that’s what.

Ethan is not the kind of teenager to be happy roaming on his own while I sit in a camp chair and read an ebook on my phone. He wants to experience it all together. He wants to try on the old school gas masks.

And he wants so very much for me to try one on too. And I imagine how many sweaty faces have been in there and I know to my core that the only thing that could compel me to put that on would be actual poison in the air.

You should know that the most fun he had, was with this little toy gun that had a sliding mechanism. He almost chose to get one so he could play with his sisters. He's pretty sweet like that.

After an hour and a half of wandering and looking and touching just about everything in the place, he settled on 3 big 'ole bullets, 2 empty grenades and a Marine "globe and anchor" pin. All of which could be found within 4 feet of the front door.

Which we were just about to walk out of...when we were sidetracked by a man named Chuck Nasty.
Chuck spent 5 minutes asking us to create a photo with his friend that said "On a shopping spree with Dave!". Which I did quite expertly, if I do say so myself.....
Then Chuck spent another 10 minutes dropping F bombs and invading my personal space as he insisted that I also drop F bombs and inappropriately compliment Dave.

I declined.

Also, turns out Chuck Nasty is a DJ for Rock101.9. Which did not surprise me one bit. He was nasty....but I'm guessing he can keep talking for 4 hours every night without much of a problem.

Finally, he wished Ethan well in the Marines, offered a few more tidbits of advice and unsolicited counsel, and headed out the door with a noticeably embarrassed Dave. Poor Dave.

So, we'll be tuning in to Rock 101.9 tonight! We can't help ourselves.

Happy 17th, Ethan! You are so funny and I love spending time with you. I will never try on a gross gas mask for you, but I will laugh and take pictures while you do....