Take Me To The River!

We had a pretty interesting day yesterday. My original plan was to take Little BEar and Pufferfish to the Children's Museum, because they had free passes they'd gotten from the summer reading program at the library. Their 12-year-old auntie, Sarah, was staying with us, so she decided to come along. Monkeyboy had a friend over, and he and his friend decided they'd rather stay home and play video games all day long.
The Children's Museum went well, except that I didn't know that on ondays it closes at one o'clock. We'd gotten there at eleven. If I'd had Monkeyboy with us, two hours in the children's museum would have been fine, because when Monkeyboy and Little Bear are together they tend to speed frantically through it, ignoring half the exhibits, and getting bored after about an hour. This is probably because Monkeyboy feels too old for the children's museum, and Little Bear follows his lead.
But without Monkeyboy, Little Bear was content to go to each exhibit and spend about forty-five minutes there, just happily playing. And with Sarah along, it was even easier, because I didn't have to try to worry about losing either Little Bear or Pufferfish in the crowd, because Sarah could help watch them, and she especially loves playing with Pufferfish. 
So our day at the children's museum was going really well, until unexpectedly an announcement came over the intercom telling us that the museum was closing in fifteen minutes! Little Bear was crushed!
And I was crushed too. I wished we hadn't wasted our free passes on a measly two-hour visiI!
Anyway, it was a beautiful day out, and the children's museum is located in a town with a very cool downtown area, so I suggested we go hang out at the Riverwalk. (The Riverwalk is one of my favorite places on Earth!)
So off we went to the Riverwalk, and a great time was had by all. We spent some time walking along the river, which all of the kids really enjoyed.
Pufferfish kept leaninforward, smiling, and calling, "Hiiiii!" to the ducks and geese! And Sarah and Little Bear had fun climbing around the older parts of the Riverwalk, where the stroller couldn't go. They also loved just sitting and relaxing by the river!














<---See this picture here? See how the baby is holding her shoe? She must have been pulling it off. Moments after this picture was taken, Pufferfish kicked her legs in delight... and her shoe flew off and landed in the river!
At first we all just sat there and watched the little pink shoe float away. Then Sarah decided to go get it... so we all ran down the path, chasing the shoe, while Sarah hopped around trying to get her own shoes and socks off in time!



s





<---Sarah saves the shoe, and the day!









As we walked further down the Riverwalk, we came to a park with a pond that had paddle boats. Me and Sarah really wanted to go paddle boating, but Little Bear screamed and cried and shouted that she was scared! I remembered that when I was a little kid I was always scared to try things like paddle boating, but when someone made me try them, I often loved them! Sometimes you have to force little kids to try new things.







<----Little Bear not wanting to go on the paddle boat!











But literally, the very moment we got on the boat... I mean, before the thing was even moving... Little Bear was laughing and yelling, "This is fun!" She climbed around on the boa, then sat down and dangled her feet in the water. She even traded seats with Sarah and tried pedaling, but it was hard for her because her legs were too short and the pedals kept getting away from her! Little Bear thought paddle boating was the coolest thing!
















Pufferfish loved the boat too. It was kind of awkward bringing Pufferfish on the boat, especially in the big, rubber, marshmallow-like life jackets provided by the park. It was hard to hold her. More like holding a large, cumbersome box than like holding a baby! It was physically impossible to put her on my lap in the boat, and we couldn't exactly give her her own seat and expect her to stay there. So I just kinda stuck her by the steering stick (or whatever you call it) and held onto the back of her life jacket!
















We sure did have fun, though! It was one of the best days of the summer, I think. Sometime next week I want to go back again, and bring Monkeyboy with, because he would love it too. We could spend a whole day just hanging out by the Riverwalk.

Oh yeah, here's one more bonus picture for ya! This past weekend we had some people over for a BBQ, and Little Bear, Pufferfish, and their little cousin swam in the blow-up pool. Little Bear sunburns very easily, and we had to keep slathering on the sunscreen every hour or so because it would wash off in the pool. FInally, Little Bear decided to take things into her own hands and make absolutely sure she didn't get a sunburn this time!



I sure love summer, don't you?

Comments

[Shari Schmidt]

We LOVE the Riverwalk. It's such a peaceful place, even when it's crowded.

[Kellan]

I thought I recognized that children's museum and river walk! We only ever go to the River Walk when guests come into town, but we love it. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves and those were great pictures.

See you soon - - Kellan

[Allison]

Sounds like SO much fun! I love the pictures by the water.

Children's Museums are super fun. We have one here in Pittsburgh that I adore, but haven't been to in years. When I babysat years and years ago I would take the kids. Now that I have my own, I can't wait for him to be old enough for it again!

[Zip n Tizzy]

Love the children's museum. Sadly we live about an hour away from ours.
Bummer about it closing at 1. I always feel the same way... Want to get the most out of those free passes!
Looks like it was a fun day. They're very lucky to have you in their lives... and I know you feel the same way about them being in yours.

[Kara]

What a great day! Love the last picture, summer is so much fun!