This weekend we walked around in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. We go here at least once a year and it makes for a nice and easy hike. Or, walk, since it’s not uphill. :)
We were all cranky and squabbley on the way there. The boys got in trouble for being too noisy in the backseat of the car. There was traffic. I think Dave and I both had headaches. But, what we’ve found is, that if we get out and just get there (and by ‘there’ I mean whatever destination we have in mind), it’s MUCH better than staying home feeling squabbley and headachey.
And so we went. And it was great.
When I was little, I spent my summers picking honeysuckle blossoms off of bushes and drinking the nectar from the blossom. Dave said he’s never heard of that before me. Was I the only one doing this? Anyway, I’ve taught Andrew my trick…and even though he’s too nervous to try it himself, he picks some blossoms for me to drink. I love honeysuckle.
It’s always extremely windy at the Refuge.
which is really pretty funny with little boys and a wayward map.
Most of my shots of Isaac look like this:
always running to catch up. He easily gets sidetracked with the grasses and bushes and stops to investigate or draw numbers in the pebbles or fill his pockets with them. And we call him and call him, and then he races to catch up.
And this is the new trick Isaac invented and Andrew agrees is pretty awesome. Isaac calls this “on the toes”. He yells “on the toes!” and then wraps himself around Dave’s leg. Then Andrew is soon also playing “on the toes”.
They think it’s the best game ever. And Dave sometimes tries to take big, heavy steps, which just makes the game THAT much more fun.
What does Dave think of this game?
Not his favorite. But he’s a good sport. :)
On our way home from the refuge, we saw something unusual in the water.
The space shuttle! It was transported from JFK to the Intrepid yesterday where it will be a part of the Air and Space Museum (a museum we have not been to yet! What’s with THAT?!).
It was pretty neat to watch it go by. It was guarded by like 10 boats and 3 helicopters and police cars were driving up and down the path we were on to keep an eye out for funny business.
Hope your weekend was a good one!
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Gorgeous set of photos!
I saw the Space Shuttle at JFK …
That’s so rad that you saw the space shuttle. I love the “on the toes!” shots and Issac’s tee shirt. By the way, we always drank the honeysuckle too.
What fun to see the shuttle! We haven’t been to the Intrepid either, and it sounds interesting. Though Tess might be a bit young still. Not sure.
And I also sucked on honeysuckle nectar. You aren’t alone. :)
That brought back memories, I also used to suck the honeysuckle nectar when we lived in South Africa – I’d forgotten about it! :)
And how cool to see the space shuttle like that!!
Loved all the photos (especially the “on the toes” ones!)
xx
I am SOOO glad to hear that there are other honeysuckle sippers! I was beginning to wonder if it was a big no-no and I was teaching him how to ingest small amounts of poison. But NOPE! :) Looks like we’re all good and free to slurp our way through summer.
Wow, now that is super cool and not something we would see around here!
We used to nip the ends off the honeysuckle and lick out the nectar … I wouldn’t say we were slurping, there never seemed enough for that! And as they say … I turned out alright so it must be okay! ;-)
Ha! My husband and I were both mentioning yesterday how we’ve never been to the Intrepid either, while watching a report on the space shuttle transport. I started a summer bucket list to do with the kids, and that went in it.
And I was honeysuckle sipper too. My maternal grandparents have a farm and whenever we went to visit we’d do that.
Here in the UK we sipped nectar from honeysuckle too, and from clover. Those were the best. I love the first picture with that fantastic skyline – I bet you are so used to it you take no notice.
such memories you are making for your children, Way to go!!!