Estell Manor

Sunday was a nice, sunny day, but not quite beach weather. So we headed out for a hike at Estell Manor.


The beginning, when the kids were actually walking with us.

Trying to catch up to the boys.

Niko torn between following Rudy and keeping track of us.

And they are off.

We hiked over to the playground and spent a lot of time there. Jada found a bug that she was fascinated with, and eventually got brave enough to pick it up.

After the playground we walked a little more to an area by the water. There used to be a bridge here.

Fresh Cold Air

We've been dealing with some cold weather around here. But we also have two boys who need to get out and run around, so we've been braving the cold to go take a walk (or run in Rudy's case) in the woods.

Last weekend we went to Estell Manor Park. The weather was finally going above freezing, but a lot of the water was still frozen.

The boys had fun through pine cones on the pond and watching them bounce across the ice. It was also very foggy in some places.

A ring of ice in a puddle.

Running, running, running. The best thing about being in the woods- unlimited places to run!

And lots of things to jump, climb, and explore.

Today we headed to Birch Grove Park. Once again, Rudy immediately went into flight mode and left us behind.

Paul and N brought up the rear.

Part of Rudy's plan with running ahead seemed to be to try to climb things he thought we'd say no if we were closer. I just warned him that if he got wet, we would have to head home immediately.

N had fun picking up sticks and throwing them into the water. He actually walked the whole time; we didn't bring the stroller.

Of course, after about 45 minutes of walking around, this was my view. But he rallied and got up and made it to the playground.

A Rare Warm Day

Yesterday's weather was predicted to be in the 60s and sunny. Since Rudy had a half day, we took a picnic to a playground and met up with some friends. The kids had a lot of fun running around for hours and we all enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Of course, today it is windy and cold again, but it was a nice reprieve.

Batman and Superman working together to fight crime.

The three kids played really well together. At one point, Rudy was a storm trooper, Tommy was Luke Skywalker and Jade was Princess Leia.

Rudy wasn't too sure I knew the way home, so he decided to consult the map book as I drove. He was very serious about his job.

A Crafty Afternoon

After school on Friday, Rudy and I went to a local park that had a kids craft class. I convinced him to go because it warned the project might be messy - I was expecting more than just paint, but it was a painting project.
Surprisingly, Rudy didn't complain, since lately he has stated he doesn't like doing art and crafts. He painted a leaf and then made a tree with colorful leaves.

Of course, the most interesting part of the visit was the blue-tongued skink in the cage right behind us!

A Gorgeous Day and an Itchy Evening

For the last day of our Labor Day weekend, the weather was sunny and warm, so we decided to head to a local park. Here is Rudy wearing my sweater and saying he is ready to go.

We had lunch at a table outside of the nature center and were able to watch the hummingbirds fly around the tree and feeder. They look so different when they are in flight and when they are still!

The dudes enjoying lunch.

Hummingbirds are very territorial and there were three of them flying around the feeder, so they were constantly chasing each other off.

As we started walking on the boardwalk trail, we mentioned to Rudy that we had been here over a year ago. He asked if it was when he was a baby and we told him no, he was about three. Somehow that segued right into, "Aunt Renee didn't have a baby and now she does. how did the baby get in her belly?" Paul and I both got quiet - I think we were both hoping it would be one of Rudy's ramblings where he just keeps going, but it wasn't. We stumbled through a horrible answer and as we looked at each other to figure out how and what to say, I saw this caterpillar and pointed it out. One little boy distracted - and no more questions on that topic! Now we just have to prepare our answer for next time!

The trail was gorgeous.

The dudes on the trail were handsome.

From the recent storms, there were some damaged trees - this one was blocking the path.

Rudy figures out how to get past it.

And arrives safely on the other side.

A sign that another tree had been blocking the path.

Looking for signs of life - we really didn't see any wildlife other than the caterpillar.

A beautiful cedar swamp area; lots of these skinny trees had also fallen down.

A strange knot in a tree - we were trying to figure out what might live in it!

One of the maps showed that the path circled around and we could choose which way to go. We definitely picked the longer way that left the boardwalk and was really a walk in the woods. Here is another tree that had fallen.

Rudy discovered he could climb up the hill and see the remains of a building.

As we got to the halfway mark (about 2 miles at this point), we were at the edge of a river. The dudes took some time to toss some rocks and look for fish.

This was called the Artesian Well. I don't really know what it is, but there was running water and an old structure that looked cool.

I was trying to take a picture of Rudy and he wanted us to put our hand in the water (after he told us how cold it was), so I told him if he'd let me take a picture, we'd touch the water. This is the picture I got - and the water was cold - I'm not sure it was a fair trade off!

Right after this the batteries in my camera died, but the walk back was uneventful and exhausting. We figured that we walked about 4 miles total. Rudy did great; he was just a little tired at the end of the walk, but he didn't complain too much.

As we walked back, Rudy told us his back hurt. We kept looking at it, but didn't see any scratched or bruises. Once we got home, Paul took Rudy, very tired and cranky at this point, up for a bath. He started looking again at Rudy's back and noticed some little marks. As we looked closer, we noticed they were bugs. Somehow, he must have walked through a tick patch; he had probably 30 or so tiny, tiny ticks on him. Paul and I were able to get many of them off, with Rudy being particularly uncooperative, but there were still 10 or more we couldn't get. Paul gave him a bath, hoping maybe they would be easier to remove. They weren't. So, we called the pediatrician and when the nurse returned our call, she suggested everything we had already tried.

The next step was to head to Urgent Care. By this point, Paul and I had been checking ourselves and each other and were both feeling itchy, but we never did find any on us. At Urgent Care (after dealing with insurance issues - don't get us started on that!), Rudy was seen by a doctor who didn't seem to know much about ticks; he said he would have the MA's come in and try to 'scrape' them off. They came in with betadine and the first two ticks came right off - they must not have been embedded because none of the others were that easy. They had to get tweezers and pull each of them off. Rudy was such a trooper - he whined a little, and I do believe it pinched him some, but I think most of the whining was for dramatic flair, and maybe some extra attention! No other treatment was needed after that so we finally headed home - Paul and I even more itchy now. We never did find ticks anywhere else but on Rudy, so somehow he must have walked through a nest of them.
What a fun (ie exhausting) end to a great weekend.