Southern Village Hike

We went on our last summer hike about a month ago. I was planning to do more, but August is hot and it was easier to go out to the playground than to try to take the kids somewhere. After doing some hikes on dirt trails and carrying Ann Marie on my back I was ready for a hike on a stroller-friendly trail. I brought the double stroller and Heidi sometimes walked and sometimes rode. It was a beautiful day and it didn't really get too hot until around lunchtime.

Kevin insisted on wearing his blanket like a superhero cape most of the time.

Our hike didn't last very long. There was a small playground at the side of the walking trail and the kids wanted to stop and play, so we played for a while and then walked back the way we came. We found these grape vines growing around the fence by the playground.

 

The kids wanted to take a quick detour to check out the stream.

The walking trail starts by Southern Community Park, so once we got back to the beginning of the trail the kids wanted to play at this park for a while too.

Ann Marie loves drinking from the Camel Back.

Kevin's 6th birthday

As I've mentioned before, Ryan generally makes the birthday cakes. This year he got out the cake decorating tools and made a very cute little two-layer cake.

Kevin had been looking forward to his birthday for weeks and would tell everybody he saw that he was turning six soon. We got him some Kre-o dinobot transformers (they're compatible with legos). He has really enjoyed them. Ryan helped him put them together that night. The other day he wanted to take them all apart and have my help putting them all together again, and I realized I had forgotten how much fun lego sets are.

Cow Appreciation Day

I woke up on the 14th and remembered with a groan that it was Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day and I had done zero preparation. Kevin also had swimming lessons, and it was Park Day, so I knew it was going to be a busy day, but we like Chick-Fil-A and it only happens once a year.

The first mistake was to tell Kevin that it was Cow Appreciation Day and we were going to go to Chick-Fil-A. He immediately went nuts and my stress level quadrupled as I ran around trying to get materials for making our costumes, pack the diaper bag, and get ready for swimming lessons while Kevin ignored my orders to get his swimsuit on. Of course we were ten minutes late for swimming lessons.

I manged to get the costumes made during swimming lessons and while the kids were playing at the park, and I've got to say, the kids looked really cute in their costumes, so that was fun. I colored spots on white shirts using a sharpie and taped black felt to their pants, and I made paper ears and taped them to headbands. I also colored some black spots to some old socks for Ann Marie.

We really did have a fun time at Chick-fil-A. The kids actually ate their food and played nicely for a long time in the playplace. Some of our friends came at the same time and I had a nice time chatting with them.

I regretted getting Sprite. It's the first time I've had soda in probably a year and a half, and it really doesn't taste that great to me anymore. I let Kevin finish it for me. I also regretted getting chicken nuggets and fries instead of a salad. I think I would have enjoyed a salad more.

The worst mistake was that we stayed too long. I've found that usually fun things go better if we stop while it's still fun instead of waiting until Kevin's getting upset. But I was enjoying talking to my friends and the longer I waited the more I was dreading having to tell the kids it was time to go. I really tried to give the kids lots of warnings and use all my tricks to ease the transition, but despite that, Kevin and Heidi were both upset, and just as we were going out the door to the parking lot Kevin darted away and before I could stop him he had disappeared back into the play structure and refused to come out.

I had to go after him and drag him out, then he disappeared again as I was trying to get out. I was really mad. I'm still mad. Maybe it was Karma because I definitely remember hiding from my mom in a particularly cool McDonald's playplace when I was a kid. The only reason I'm still glad we went is because I really did have a nice time with my friends. Oh, and I borrowed my friend's phone and got pictures of this adorable baby cow:

a frog story

One morning we went to Park Day. Kevin went off to play in the woods with his friends (and can I just say how nice it is that I can trust him to not run off to Canada if I don't watch him every second?), and after a while he and several boys came running excitedly back. Kevin showed all of us that he had a little frog in his hands--a frog that all of the boys were trying to get a chance to hold, except Kevin was keeping it safely inside his hand. Once he had shown us the frog they all ran off again, and my friend said, "God bless that poor frog in the hands of four six-year-old boys."

Quite a while passed, and Kevin was still holding that frog. As much as I enjoyed seeing the intense interest he had in this frog, I was getting pretty concerned that the frog wouldn't survive, so I told Kevin to let him go. Kevin, however, had other ideas. He came back from the woods still holding the frog and said, "Mom, there are lots of places in our house. There are lots of places for the frog in our house." I informed him that we couldn't keep the frog. When he asked why I said we didn't have any frog food. "Mom, there are lots of flies in our house." (FYI, not true.) He also tried to put the frog in a water bottle to carry it home, but I stopped him.

After telling him repeatedly to let the frog go, I finally followed him into the woods to make sure the frog was freed. I found Kevin crouched by a puddle of water, and I'm pretty sure he was giving the frog a kiss before putting it in the water. Then he tried to get it back out of the water, and I made him leave the water and told him once again that we couldn't bring the frog home.

Then Kevin's eyes started welling up with tears, and he said in a very sad voice, "But Mom, I love the frog."

"I know, Honey, but the frog wouldn't be happy at our house. If you love the frog, you will leave him here in the woods where he can be happy."

I don't think Kevin was convinced, but I made sure he left the woods so the frog could make its escape.

Pea Creek Trail

For Hike #3 our whole family went to Eno River State Park and hiked Pea Creek Trail. It wasn't a very long trail by my standards, but when you have two curious kids who want to pick up every nut, stick, and flower they see and throw rocks in the river, a hike takes a lot longer. In the end I passed Ann Marie off to Ryan and put Heidi in the Ergo on my back. Surprisingly, in the Ergo she actually didn't seem much heavier than Ann Marie.

Do you see the frog?

Heidi was tired and refused to have any more pictures.

. . . until she wanted to run around again.

NC Botanical Gardens

I have a goal to take the kids on a hike once a week this summer. The first week we went with some friends to the nature trails at the NC Botanical Gardens, which was perfect for the kids. The second week I wanted to take the kids to a place on campus, but I realized once we got there that the place I had been planning to park required a permit, so when Heidi asked to go back to the Botanical Gardens and see the fish I agreed. Kevin and Heidi always enjoy the fish, the old log house, and the giant chess board.

The temperature was actually quite pleasant while we were there. Unfortunately, our visit was cut short because Kevin slipped in the dirt while playing in a maze made of sticks, and he got a pretty nasty cut on his knee. He insisted he wanted to go home right away. I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw all the blood trickling down his leg as we were walking back to the car. Fortunately, we have a first aid kit in the car, so while Kevin was sobbing loudly I was able to clean it with water and antiseptic wipes and then tape gauze over it (it was a large enough wound that none of the band-aids would cover it). Kevin believes beyond a shadow of a doubt in the pain relieving properties of band-aids, so he insisted on having the largest band-aid put over the gauze despite my explanation that the gauze was a bandage. Thankfully it's healing really well. There's just a tiny scab left.

Pullen Park, take two

Ryan's been busy lately trying to meet some deadlines and get some projects done, and one day he came home and said, "Let's go to Pullen Park on Monday. I need a vacation." At Pullen Park there are train and carousel rides for $1 per person, and also several playgrounds and a big shady grassy area. The kids had a really fun time. Last time we went Kevin had a hard time with the transitions, but this time he had a great attitude, so it was really encouraging to see how much he has matured and progressed in the last couple of years.

Kevin was able to climb all the way to the top!