summer

We've done a whole bunch of nothing this summer.  

And while I will never forget the day I promised myself I'd never get on another roller coaster, I can just feel the chug-chug-chug of the cars going up the giant hill of life just before school starts.

We're going to shoot down that track in all different directions.  I'm hanging on tight, but geez, I wish I could just think about it one more time.

Looking at a few shots of the summer may help slow this coaster down a bit.

BLACKBERRY PICKING:

I took the kids, minus Joaquin, on a free hay ride to the blackberry patch early this summer.  (I think Joaquin was at his soccer camp, and he hates all nature things I make us do away, so it was perfect timing.)

The blackberries were HUGE.  And delicious.

The one problem was the june bugs.  They were hiding in the bushes and if you pulled one too hard, they'd buzz out at you and scare you to death.  Isabela learned the hard way and sent our whole bucket of blackberries flying.

We tried to eat as many as we could to cut the cost, but they weren't expensive at all and definitely worth dodging the bugs.

PONY PASTURE:

Would you believe we had never taken the kids to Pony Pasture before?  I had wanted to take everyone to Chincoteague for the pony crossing, but we settled on this.  We'd been to the river with them a lot, but not specifically to this famous spot.  

Hmmm.  Which way should we go?

Their fearless dad led the way.  Of course, I was nervous about the whole thing.  The sign said 'life jackets required' so I was ready to head to REI to pick some up.  Overruled.

They found their own little rapids and shot down on a natural water slide, while Carmen and I sat on the rocks and talked to the nearby ducks.  She wasn't too keen on getting wet, but laughed when a wet puppy decided to shake off on our rock.

Joaquin was pretending he couldn't swim back at one point.  (I knew he was kidding, but always fun for a mother to watch, right?)

PEACH PICKING:

My uncle David took us to his friend's orchard to pick peaches and apples.  Joaquin didn't pick a single one, but he did love on this sweet cat. 

The peach trees had so much fruit, they were sagging under the weight and even had broken branches.  I'd never heard of this happening.

Carmen wasn't much for picking either.

There's ol' uncle David.  Quite the comedian, like always.

Superman couldn't wait to get his hands on this bell.

We didn't stay there long and have learned not to pick too much.  We had German Apple Pancakes one morning...delicious...but I think there are still some apples sitting in the fridge from that day.

ZOO:

Carmen and I have zoo passes that I need to remember to use once the kids start school, but she and I, Diego, and abuelo checked out the zoo one day while the big kids had camps.

There were lots of babies! (It was a bad picture, but can you see the little face and tiny foot?)

Our zoo is amazing with giraffes to feed, 20 cheetah cubs born in the last two years, beautiful birds and monkeys, tigers, lions, bears....

I always love asking people questions.  (Just the other day I asked the manager at Cici's how many pizzas they make in one day.  Any guesses?)  At the zoo, I always wonder how someone comes to be a zoo keeper.  It always sounds like a fun job as a child, but not so much when you grow up.

The one I asked said she had studied international affairs in college, went to South Africa to study some cheetahs, and ended up following them to our zoo.  She said she was responsible for most of the animals in the zoo, except for the reptiles and the apes.  That sounds like a huge job!

Carmen enjoyed a little chat with a penguin...the oldest one they have is 35 years old!  

And we took the train ride to the secret part of the zoo.  Carmen was a bit sleepy by this point and would not stop saying "choo-choo, choo-choo" the e.n.t.i.r.e. ride!  So cute, right?

This ostrich followed us right out of the enclosure.  The driver had to stop the train to lead him back in.  I commented, "Wow! That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be!" And he laughed and said, "Well, if they flop down on the ground, it would have been a lot harder.  They won't budge then."  Maybe we can see that next time.

SESAME STREET: 

I took the little kids to our local PBS station for a showing of a Wild Kratts movie.  And yes, our station is located on a real Sesame St!

Carmen did not want a picture with Cookie Monster, and apparently Diego is too old to do that now.

But they could pose with posters.

Here's Dinosaur Train with a giant Clifford behind...

...and of course, Elmo, or Melmo as we call him.

They had little activities to do, but the highlight was popcorn and the movie.  Diego has learned more stuff from that show than I could have ever taught him!  Gotta love PBS.

And this was about the extent of our summer.  A few pool days, local parks, and much boredom.  My kids can't wait to go back to school.  Maybe that's how it's supposed to be?  

(Answer to the pizza question: 600 pizzas on a busy day!)

fighting creek park

Why do boys fight?  My boys are to the kicking- pushing- and- occasional- punching stage.  It IS a stage, right?  I hope not just in my house!  It is something I will never understand, but I guess it's fitting to write a post about Fighting Creek Park, our newest discovery and very close to home.

Juan Pablo always puts me in charge of, "Where are we going to go today?"  It had to fit his qualifications though...walking, park, not sunny, possibly water.  And that's how we stumbled upon this park.

Many of the trees and plants are labeled at the entrance to the playground area.  They all look like poison ivy to me, so I just keep to the trail.

There was a brand new, huge, awesome playground for the kids to enjoy.  I'm always drawn to parks to discover a little more about the world and nature around me, and their first question out of their mouths is always, "Is there a playground?"

These are some super-steep slides, so the kids pretended they were the Warp Wall from American Ninja Warriors.  Well, really, the whole playground was turned into a ninja course for a few minutes there.

There were some smaller parts for little Carmen, but I thought it was funny that the sign on the equipment said for ages 2-12.  There's really something out there that covers the ages of all my children?!

Diego has a talent for climbing...he can climb walls, poles, trees...anything that goes up.

And the skinniest little arms you've ever seen...I don't know how he does it.

Even one arm and he doesn't fall off!

I always love a playground that includes music.

There are lots of knobs to turn and things to do here.  There is absolutely no way a kid could not love this place.  Well...I may have to take that back.  Joaquin had a white spider on his arm as he was trying to climb the rock wall and freaked out.   Joaquin and spiders just do not mix well.

There's a very cool covered bridge nearby.  Way more amazing in person.

We stopped at the amphitheater seats for awhile and tried to throw rocks into this hole in a hallowed out tree.  No one peeked out like we were hoping.  We did NOT throw that stick in there, but JP did his best to throw another and missed.

A quick family picture before heading on...

There was lots to see along the freshly poured rock trails, including these odd looking fungi.

There were benches, picnic tables, and even disc golf cages along the way to look at.

And way into the trail, these little exercise points started showing up.  These balance beams were on springs, which made them just a little more interesting.  We tried to play 'who could make someone fall off first' but we all have really good balance, so we just had to continue on walking.

And see that awful thing Diego is sitting on?

Well, those yellow bars ended up knocking Carmen in the head and she fell flying onto her back.  Poor thing got a little knot on her head, but I was amazingly prepared with an icepack from the snack bag I'd brought along.

Our goal this whole time had been to search for a waterfall that was noted on the map.  I figured it would be small because I don't know of any falls around here, but we would have missed it completely if it weren't for Abuelo spotting it.  It was a little trickle down a large flat rocky area, just beyond this picnic table.

Diego bravely walked down the falls area onto a little island in a muddy looking pool and tested out how deep it was.  No one fell in, but I was prepared with a change of clothes just in case.

Beautiful tall trees shaded us the entire walk.  I can't wait to see this place in fall.

Diego's energy finally gave out on the way back, just for a bit.   But that's what piggy backs are for, right?