Lionden Landing

Our big objective for the summer is to get Froggy proficient in really riding her bike.  Our first adventure was almost our last.  It was a one mile ride up to the library.  Froggy was insistent she could not make it up the hill.  She turned around and headed home.  At the bottom of the hill, she asked how far we were.  I told her we were about 2/3s.  She got determined, turned her bike around and conquered that hill.  Today, at her request, we tried a much harder 2 mile ride up to the ice cream store.  She had to walk about half a block up the last bit of one hill and pause to rest on two other hills but she did it.  And more importantly she did it of her own desire and without any whining or complaining at all.  My heart just about burst with pride.

We met a friend for what I thought was a casual playdate at the park.  It turned into a fantastic nature hike.  Froggy decided early in the walk that she wanted to take pictures with my phone  We saw a blue heron not that you can tell from this picture.  And aren't the white flowers pretty.  Anyone know what it is?  And this is the fern her friend wants for her yard  pretty yellow flower  Mama and baby ducks  And the absolutely neatest tree stump ever.  Current theory is that there was a knot in the tree at this point. And a blue jay for M's bird book.

My father and I have never had a good relationship for a variety of reasons.  Start with the fact that he really wanted a son and I was the third of four girls.  I was also a fat kid with less social graces than his collegues who have preferred.  I think he tried in the beginning but gave up eventually when he found nothing worth his time in me. By thirteen, I knew he didn't like me as much as my siblings.  At fifteen, I was told flat out I was asking to visit too often and so I never asked again without need. Sixteen was the last year I received any acknowledgement of my birthday and that was several months late and only after I cried to one of my sisters about the lack of acknowledgement.  Before I was married at 22, I had stopped being invited to the family winter celebration including my sister's birthday celebration. When Abba and I decided that we were going to make a life together, he asked to meet my father and I acquiesced  to his wishes.  We had dinner as a family

The Smithsonian Natural History Muesum closed its Dinosaur exhibit at the end of April.  Knowing it was coming, we went to say goodbye.  We went with another family that was way more prepared than.  The mom made a neat scavenger hunt for the girls.  They completed it in record time. But then spent forever showing us all the things they found. We also got to visit a Touch-Me Station and talk with the docent about the fossils. This was Froggy's Favorite of the entire day Whereas my favorite was watching the paleontologists at work There was a disagreement of facts between the girls, so Froggy used the sign to win.   Once we finished with the dinosaurs, we went to the insect exhibit and saw all the creepy crawlers   including this black widow spider.