Burtassic Park

You wouldn't know it from the lack of posts, but we love (hear that guys?  LOVE!!) having family close by.  When my little brother and his wife moved a mere 4-5 hours away (depending on traffic) last summer, I looked forward to spending every single weekend with them.  Of course, then things like "work" and "school" and "church responsibilities" got in the way.  So we actually only see them about once a month (and yet, no blog posts.  it's puzzling...), but I feel like last weekend's visit was especially note-worthy because of one thing: Burtassic Park.

While driving to Gravelly Point, we happened to catch this sign:

If you saw this guy sitting in front of his house with a sign advertising alligator viewing, you would stop too, right?

Turns out the alligator, Gulp, looked like this:

That's an alligator made from piping, in case you're confused.  And the rest of the "animals" were just as impressive.

It really just goes to show that no matter how long you live somewhere, you never know what treasures your town has to offer.  And it also demonstrates what a fantastic time we'll show you people when you come visit us.

Just to give you a taste of more to come, Burtassic Park also has a boa constrictor.

Hike it to Occoquan

I'm a little behind on my blogging (what else is new?), but we didn't have any plans a week ago, and Kiddo requested a hike, so we acquiesced to his request and decided to go back to the Occoquan Wildlife Refuge.

Whether because of his advanced meteorology education or his bum knee or some unknown ability to predict the forecast, Kiddo was continually anticipating rain all morning.  Rightly so, although we managed to make it all the way around the wildlife refuge to Turtle Pond before the rainstorm commenced.  Luckily, there happens to be a pavilion near the pond, so we waited out the worst of the storm--dancing and singing to "Battle Hymn of the Republic," among other things--before walking back to the car in the rain.  End the day with some Cafe Rio, and good times were had by all.

7 Months!

Adorable, right?

Typical Sunday Afternoon

And yes.  Kiddo makes those siren noises all. day. long.

Who Needs Utensils?

I'm pretty sure he ate his entire lunch this way....