The Day After Christmas Hike

After spending Christmas and Christmas Eve primarily at home, we decided we needed to get some fresh air the day after Christmas. It was a little cool, but not as bad as we expected. We think we headed to Harrisville Lake - a part of Wharton State Forest- but there weren't any signs indicating exactly where we were. We saw a number of cars parked by a trail and decided to stop there.

Rudy started the walk saying, "I hate nature." Sometimes he just likes to be ornery. When he asked me why i like nature, and I told him because it is peaceful, he started making a lot of noise. I told him nature was still peaceful, just not him!

And then the "expert explorer", as he dubbed himself, kicked in and he was all over the place.

He found ways into small underbrush....

... and convinced Paul to come in with him.

The sense of adventure from the Indiana Jones Wii game came into play, too. He was Indiana Jones and had tasks to complete as we went through the woods.

We found a lean-to built against this tree.

And some areas that may have been animal homes across the water.

A tree you can climb and sit in is always fun.

This tree looked like a ready-made tent.

I'm not sure if he is trying to climb it or do yoga!

This is Indiana Jones running and somersaulting through his adventures.

A panoramic view of the lake- a neat setting on our new camera.

Another Recap

Again, I am doing a week in review recap. Mostly because I don't have much to say or show. Our weeks are busy with Rudy at camp or home with a babysitter and Paul and I working. The summer is almost over and I don't feel like we did as much as I wanted.

Here is Rudy with his favorite babysitter, his cousin (second cousin? first cousin once removed?), Neil. Last week Neil got a job in NYC. We are very excited for him but Rudy will really miss him (and all the ways he was spoiled by Neil - like daily Dunkin Donuts trips, trips to the Aquarium and boardwalk, and all the superheroes on TV he wanted!). Rudy wasn't cooperating when I tried to take a picture of him and Neil so these are the best we got.





This weekend was the annual pool party that Renee's aunt and uncle have. Rudy has become such a fish this summer. His swimming skills have just bloomed. He loves to use his flippers and snorkel and swims really well with a snorkel. The pool was a little cool, so after his first dip in the pool, he spent most of the rest of the day swimming in the hot tub.

Tonight we took a , slightly rainy, walk. Rudy has been playing Star Wars a lot (thanks Vincie and Andy!), and so he had to bring his pencils (aka light sabers) with him.

Not sure what this pose is!

Yesterday at the pool party, Renee's mom took a picture of Rudy and said it turned out great. I told her how he never stays still and smiles for me - he's always on he move. Tonight as we were walking Rudy said, "Take my picture, I'll smile for you." And he stood still while I took this (unfortunately it turned out a little blurry). It's so funny how things we say about him around him later influence him. One day he was swimming in a friend's pool and I mentioned that he usually stays near one side and doesn't cross the pool. Later I was asking Rudy about swimming and he told me that he went all the way over to the other side since he heard me say he doesn't do it usually. Guess I'll be using a lot of reverse psychology with this boy!

The "Wild Wild Rescue"

Since it was a beautiful day on Saturday we decided to visit the local wildlife refuge, which Rudy called the "wild wild rescue". There are paths to walk on and also a drive to go around an look for animals (mostly birds) in the waters and marshes.

Overlooking the marshes.

Paul and Rudy on the boardwalk trail. The static electricity on here was unbelievable. We shocked each other constantly and when you got near the wire fencing, you could hear the sound of the static. It was quite a painful walk at times.

Walking on a path by the boardwalk. Rudy didn't want to go in the 'deep dark forest', but fortunately, since there are very few leaves on the trees, we didn't encounter many areas like that! He also found several 'bear tracks' that he was following. And he found some 'dinosaur eggs'. It was quite an adventure.

A view of the boardwalk from the path.

The great bird watcher.

Silly face

This is while we were on the drive. Rudy is 'reading' the book on local birds and pointing to the words and telling us all about them. I think he was reading about a 'redbird' here.

Rudy checking the sign to make sure we're heading the right way.

A beautiful lake.

The explorers. I love Rudy's pose here!

This large branch was partially in front of the path. Rudy decided he needed to move it out of the way. I think he succeeded in moving it about an inch or two.

And of course towards the end of our final path, Rudy the birdwatcher was gone and the superheroes had returned.

Walking back to our car.