Spring in the Park

Springtime! It's finally springtime! We didn't have a bad winter but it held on weeks longer than usual and we're ready for a change. Saturday was dismal and dreary with a cold drizzle hanging around most of the day. We finally got a nice day on Sunday when it got in the low 70's and we desperately needed to get outside. We walked down to one of the local parks where the creek ran higher than usual because of recent rainfall.


This is a concrete walkway over the creek most of the time but it becomes a ford with a small waterfall after a good rain. Nate enjoyed trying to dam up the creek even further. A small pond with tadpoles provided entertainment on one side of the ford, pint-sized whitewater on the other. Nate and Sean ran back-and-forth until they got soaked. I'm not sure how they could stand the cold water. Kids are immune to that, apparently.



Sean enjoyed digging canals through the small pebbles sand by the side of the creek. He also used small pieces of wood and leaves as tiny kayaks shooting through the two inch whirlpools and hydraulics heading downstream.

Star Wars Kids

Our little Star Warriors


Everything is all Star Wars all the time in our household for the moment. Nate caught the bug from one of his friends and Sean followed right along. They love these light sabers and battle each other all around the house, inside the house, and everywhere else. It's more harmless than it probably appears. There are strict rules they have to follow or their weapons go into Time Out.

Nate is more adept but Sean shows no fear and comes into battle straight-on. He's difficult to stop when he charges. We sure look forward to the day they move on to the next big thing but for now its Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars.

Delaware Weekend

We went to Delaware last weekend so that mom could run in a race. However, Nate and Sean thought the best thing was the swimming pool at the hotel. They don't get many opportunities to swim in March so this was a special treat for them. Nate swims well and Sean paddles along just fine with his floating tube.

On Saturday we went to the Delaware Natural History Museum. It was small compared to some places we've seen before, but it was well done and enjoyable. There were many fascinating exhibits to see. This is a giant statue of a dung beetle complete with dung ball which mom found pretty gross which meant that the kids really, really liked it. Maybe only the dinosaur bones and the robotic ants scored more points with them.

One exhibit allowed the kids to see if they were taller than certain animals. Apparently Sean is shorter than an Emperor Penguin. He's actually slightly taller than it appears. He's leaning back on the wall at an angle. Even so the penguin is much taller. Who knew?

Mom had her big race on Sunday morning. Everyone walked a few blocks from the hotel to the start of the race at Caesar Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington. Everyone gave mom a hug and wished her well. Mom ran all over Wilmington for the next couple of hour while Nate and Sean got one more chance to enjoy the pool.

Mardi Gras

We have a little Mardi Gras tradition here in town, even though we're hundreds of miles north of New Orleans. It's nothing like the "real thing" of course but we do have a small parade where lots of beads get tossed to the crowd. It's wintertime up here in the great north and it's still really cold, as you can see from Nate's red cheeks. This was still early in the evening when he didn't have a lot of beads. He managed to grab a lot more loot before the parade ended.

We put Sean in the stoller and covered him with a blanket to keep him warm. Usually he's up and about for these kinds of events, but he had a stomach flu earlier in the week and he wasn't quite up to strength yet. Don't worry, he's totally recovered now.

Actually, it's not too much different from the normal parades around here other than a few floats. As usual we have the police motorcycles riding in complicated patterns down the parade route, but it looks a lot more interesting at night with all the lights flashing.

And in one of the stranger displays of the multicultural area we live in, even the local kebob restaurant participates, throwing trinkets to the crowd just like everyone else. I wasn't aware that Mardi Gras was a big deal in India but here you go.