Visiting Uncle K
This past weekend we decided to take the girls on a mini-vacation to visit their great uncle K, and we had a wonderful time. Uncle K lives in a lake house just outside a relatively big city, so we had quite a variety of activities to enjoy.

Into the Wild!
The girls had a blast just exploring Uncle K's yard, which (unlike our typically suburban postage stamp of grass) is all trees, bushes, and rock steps going down a hill to the dock. I know at some point they were actively hunting for spider webs and were really excited when they found a few with visible spiders.

Uncle K has three boats--a canoe, a kayak, and a motorized fishing boat--and the girls all got to take a ride in each of them. Monkey and Bug were particularly excited about the canoe and kayak originally being Native American boats that we've seen in our books. They didn't do any paddling themselves this time, but they've decided they're definitely going to learn how when they get bigger. At some point I went back to the dock to hang out (aah, peace and quiet with a good book), while Goose piled into the kayak with Daddy and the big girls joined Uncle K on the fishing boat for a longer excursion. They even got to explore up a small river that feeds into the lake.

Of course, we did more extensive exploring on land too. Uncle K led us down the road to a trail head in his neighborhood, and we followed the trail to a pile of huge rocks that were perfect for climbing around on. On the way home the girls decided they wanted to lead the hike and took off at a run down the trail. Daddy followed close on the heels of the big girls to make sure they really did follow the trail while Uncle K and I lagged behind to follow Goose's lead. All three girls actually did a very decent job of paying attention and sticking to the the trail. They only needed a couple of course corrections to get back.

Roaring from the top of the big rocks!

Urban Adventures
On Sunday we decided to take the light rail into the city to let the girls get up close and personal with some skyscrapers again. They were really excited about the train! It's the first time they've been on a real train (the kiddie one at the zoo doesn't count--it doesn't even have tracks), and they loved it. Particularly cool moments were the sightings of the first skyscrapers and getting to ride the train through a building!

Very excited about their first train ride!

Once downtown we just did some walking around and went through the book themed park that we discovered last time were in town. We got to explore some new sculptures this time though, since a different set of sprinklers were on.

We happened to be downtown just as an Indian Festival was getting underway. The girls played in a bouncy house for a while, then we did a quick walk through the booths to admire all the beautiful dresses, jewelry and pictures. After that unexpected adventure we actually got to go in one of the skyscrapers. Most of the building was closed to the public, of course, but we got to see a small indoor garden, and we went up to the 8th floor of the parking garage to look out. The parking garage had the added of fun of being extremely good for making echoes. We stopped for lunch at a deli a couple of floors up a different building and found seats by the window--very cool for a trio of little ones excited about big buildings!

We took the train back to Uncle K's, then got in our own car to head home. Not a long visit, but a good one. I doubt he could hear them, but he girls were yelling, "I love you, Uncle K!" as we pulled out of his driveway.