April 4, 2019

Well, basketball season is over and now both Ken and I get to go babysit the girls on Wednesdays.  It’s definitely the highlight of our week.  We recently purchased a membership to Fontenelle Forest which is about 4 minutes from Aaron and Kalie’s house and took the girls there for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  The weather was great, but of course, there were no leaves on the trees yet.  They have a great elevated board walk which worked well for the strollers.  We took the river walk trail so we could see the Missouri River flooding on the Iowa side. Emma was in charge of the map they gave us so she would look and tell us which way to go. They have other trails that are dirt which we can take when the girls get a little older and it’s not so muddy.  The Forest also has a play center inside and the girls took turns going down the slide. ‘Again’ was their first word when they got to the bottom.  They have a room for ‘crafts’ there as well but we didn’t do that this time. We are looking forward to doing some more exploring, maybe when we can see some blooms and before the mosquitos come out.  (With all of the river flooding, they could be very bad this year.)

Emma enjoyed that Forest map so much that she and I sat down and made some maps of our own.  We made a map from Grandpa’s house to her house.  I would do the drawing and she would tell me what I should draw on the map.  Although my artwork is very primitive, she enjoyed the pictures I drew of the houses, which had to have garage doors, pictures of Ruth, Annie, Zelda and of course, the deer that always poop in her backyard. We had to put names by the houses and then make a winding road that connected them.  While I’m drawing, she loves to hear stories about our crazy dogs, or about how the cats meow.

We also spent that afternoon after naptime, doing bubbles that thrill Margaret, making beautiful art with the sidewalk chalk and playing in the sand box.  I’m thinking the girls were wore out at the end of the day . . . I know Grandma and Grandpa were, they slept great that night.

Some days the weather doesn’t cooperate, so we play inside.  The basement is a safe place to rough house, one of Grandpa’s favorite things to do with them.  Last Wednesday Emma wanted to put up the train tracks, so Ken got busy and figured out how some of it went together.  Of course, he had lots of help and Margaret, with the new nickname of Godzilla, was intent on wreaking havoc on the whole layout.

Margaret enjoys the electronic piano keyboard that you roll out on the floor.  She can sit on it and make all kinds of beautiful music

We have a membership to the Henry Doorly Zoo so we’re looking forward to a lot more adventures this summer.