St. Louis Visit

We spent a long weekend in St. Louis visiting the Ferners.  The kids are still exhausted from all the sun and swimming, plus staying up too late with Grandma.  Joe and I are still recovering from the gooey butter cake.

We spent one day visiting Purina Farms.  The kids practiced driving tractors before we checked out the animals.





Koi Pond


Snack time


Ready for the tractor tour


Ian got to help milk a cow.


We also saw the dog show with some frisbee-catching dives.


The kids liked the pool the best, even though the water was pretty cold. By the end of the trip Mia was swimming with a noodle all by herself!






Ian made a friend.


Glow balloons and lightning bugs were favorite evening activities.


Before we left on Monday, Janet took Ian to the lake for some fishing.  Ian caught his first bluegill!

Calvert Cliffs

For our big Memorial Day celebration we decided to visit Calvert Cliffs State Park in Maryland.  I hadn't visited this park in 18 years, but I remember it having a nice beach with lots of great seashells and even shark's teeth to find in the surf.  Ian absolutely couldn't wait to find some fossils.

It's a beautiful 1.8 mile hike from the parking lot to the beach.




It was a perfect day for the beach!








Ian had quite the collection of shells!  He was only allowed to pick his favorite 10 to take home (because it's 1.8 miles back to the car too).


We should have packed swim suits.






This is as close to the actual cliffs as you're allowed to get these days.  They've crumbled a lot in 18 years.


Two exhausted adventurers


And an artsy photo for good measure.

Busy Sunday

Today we spent the day in Western Maryland exploring some places I went to as a kid.  Ian had been asking to go in a cave, so our first stop was Crystal Grottoes.  He was a bit disappointed the cave wasn't full of bears and bats, but I think he really enjoyed it.

Of course we threw some rocks in the creek while we waited.






Stalactites and stalagmites






Future spelunkers?


After meeting up with Emily and John for a pizza feast and some ice cream in Boonsboro, we all headed to the Antietam National Battlefield to run around outside.  We walked about 3 miles and Mia made it the whole way!






At the top of the observation tower

Hiking Great Falls

This morning we got up early to beat the crowds on the trails at Great Falls (the Virginia side).  The kids loved climbing on the rocks and Ian was in charge of finding the trail markers. Ian declared that hiking "isn't so bad after all!"





Checking out the great view of the Falls.


She's so pretty.






"Ta-da!  I did it myself!"








Pretty spot for a snack break


Climbing on the locks






No hike is complete without throwing some rocks into a creek.