Birthday Girl's Day

For my mom's birthday this year she wanted a girls day with me, my sister, Cole and Ib. We all met in Newark then ventured to Longwood Gardens for a stroll and lunch. Neither my mom or sister had been to Longwood before and they, as was I, were stunned by the beauty of the place. 

 

A Little Zoo

After years of living in a major city and taking full advantage of urban life, living in Newark has been quite a shift. Newark, which is home to University of Delaware, is a pretty typical college town. There are plenty of things to do, but you have to look. I found a little zoo about twenty minutes away in Rising Sun, Maryland. It is cute as can be.

At the ticket office, you can buy a cup of feed to give to some of the animals. Cole was delighted to feed the goats, sheep, donkeys and alpacas. She was disappointed she couldn't feed the bears but after I explained they may bite she applied that reasoning to every animal she couldn't feed: Camels may bite. Tigers may bite. Peacocks may bite. It worked out just fine. 

Since we were already in Rising Sun, we made a quick trip to Kilby Cream for ice cream. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had a playground and little animal display for the kids.  Not that Cole could could focus on anything but her pink ice cream with jimmies.

Sunny and 79

After our long, snowy winter, we used the recent spring weather as reason enough to explore this new neck of the woods. Recently we went to the cliffs at Elk Neck State Park. The cliffs are a twenty minute walk from the parking lot. Naturally, as soon as we arrived at the cliffs Cole wanted to get out of the stroller. She is a quite the adventurer. Her adventuring, not to mention my anxiously beating heart, kept me from snapping any pictures from the top. Though it's hard to imagine a photo could do the view justice. From the cliffs, there is a path down the to water. The decline was impressive but not too much for the trusty BOB. And the girls loved the bumping and twisting. In fact, Ibbie was cackling the entire time. 

Down on the rocks, we took in the view. Cole and Peter threw and skipped rocks, respectively. Ib watched with such intent that I imagine, given the chance, she could skip a rock without much further instruction.