The Covered-Wagon Ride

Opa and Oma treated us all to a ride in a covered wagon down the Pennsylvania canyon. It was a lovely long ride with only us and the tour guide.

There were just too many opportunities for me to take nature pictures. I'll only put on some of my favorites. There were many, many to choose from. :)

The ride was a little long for Simon. He was very antsy, because... well... he's Simon. He crawled up and down the length of the wagon. Any time he had a moment to think about me he would sign and scream to nurse. I felt very loved... no, really it was a little annoying after something like the fifth time. I kept trying to throw food at him, but that wasn't what he wanted.

The younger kids lost interest in the scenery on the way back. My wonderful mother sat at the end of the wagon and sang any little kiddie song that she could think of. The kids really liked a lovely little song that I remember from my childhood. It speaks of a little man in a cabin in the woods. A rabbit runs in and shouts for a help, because "the hunter shoot me dead..." And I wonder sometimes why my sweet little Alynna is a psychopath.

Simon's favorite toy on the go was rocks.

The kids found three large white caterpillars. They carried them around for a while. Alynna named hers "In-N-Out". We were very excited about this unusual find, because we don't get critters like that in Los Angeles. We were excited about the find until my grandpa encouraged the kids not to hold poisonous caterpillars. Sure enough, after trying to stuff it into his pocket Nathan broke out in a rash on his thigh and spotty around his body. He had it for several days after that and would cry about the itchiness. Now we know. Be excited about finding a Hickory Tussock Moth, but be excited from a distance.

The little gift shop sold maple sugar candy. We had just finished reading "Little House in the Big Woods", so, of course, we had to try some!