Grandpa's Visit

Grandpa came to visit today. It had been awhile because we'd had opposite schedules lately. Nate and Sean always need room to roam around and we didn't want them to overwhelm grandpa so we went to one of the local parks. Here's grandpa teaching that young whippersnapper a lesson! Don't worry, it was all in good fun.


Nate likes to snuggle and he sensed an opportunity with grandpa who was more than willing to spoil him. Nate would run around the playground, climb up the structures, and then come back every few minutes to spend some time with grandpa.


We returned home after about an hour. We were pretty worn out after running all over the place so mostly we relaxed.


Sean wasn't having anything to do with any inactivity for long though. This was his chance to find someone else to play Star Wars with the light sabers. Grandpa was kind enough to play along.

Roosevelt Island

We took a walk on Theodore Roosevelt Island, a park located on the Potomac River in Washington, DC. Here we are on the swamp trail that goes from the southern tip of the island along the tidal wetlands that penetrate into the interior. Nate and Sean both did great with all the hiking. We brought an all-terrain stroller along for Sean and he used it some of the time but he kept up with Nate the rest of the time. We figured that Nate probably walked about four miles all together, so we think he'll be able to join Mom on a 5K fun run/walk later this summer.

There is a large pavilion on the north-central highlands with a patio, fountains and a giant statue of Theodore Roosevelt. We stopped here for a picnic lunch. Nate and Sean enjoyed feeding one of the local ducks that paddled around in a concrete reflecting pool.

The hiking was fun but the animals were the highlights for the kids. In addition to all the ducks, we say a snapping turtle, a skink (a type of lizard), colorful butterflies, unusual insects and all sorts of birds.

It's been unusually cool with low humidity lately. We just had to get outside and enjoy the day!

Mississippi River Trip - 2

We continued on our Mississippi River trip the following day. It was sunnier today but windier. We stopped at a wetland observation station along the roadside. This was a great spot designed for birdwatching but Nate seemed more interested in focusing the telescope on the power station at the far side of the river.



Later that day we arrived at a ferry crossing and took it to the other side of the river to Iowa. It was a very small ferry, holding only nine cars, but it chugged upstream without any trouble. It was a lot cheaper than the riverboat cruises but just as much fun, and ten minutes was about as long as the kids wanted to be on a boat anyway.



We stopped at a park that held a lot of ancient Indian burial mounds. Most of them could only be observed by hiking to them. Sean wanted no part of that so Mom hung out with him on the big green lawn by the Visitor Center. Nate and Dad hiked a mile to the top of the bluff and were rewarded with this great view. Nate says he wants to go on more hikes in the future!