3 Seasons in a Day

For the second year in a row, August has the feel of September after scorching July temps.  These are wonderful days, in which the mornings are cool and damp like spring and the summer sun heats the midday and gives way to evenings of fall that are dry and cool.  It has been an adventurous week, but with the return of school just around the corner it also seems that we are repeating some of the activities from earlier in the summer.  The changing seasons are beneficial in that it also allows us to change up our outdoor activities as the seasons dictate.  The rollerblades have been seeing a lot of attention for really the first time all year, and we did a combination rollerblade trip and geocaching excursion early in the week.  The 'treasure' was along a portion of the East River trail on a portion called the Bellevue Arboretum.  There are over a hundred different species of trees planted along this portion of the route and yet strangle the treasure was hidden under a large invasive buckthorn and even some really old barbed wire fencing apparently tossed in for good measure.  At any rate it was a nice way to spend a late morning and after lunch it was clearly time for a nap.  Neither kid was convinced that they needed a nap, even after they awoke nearly 2 hours later.  It is Shark Week as well, and this is the first year in many that we didn't make hats or even watch many of the new shows, we did head back to the Botanical Garden again.  We handed been there since the spring and I am always amazed at how beautiful it is as well as how much the grounds continues to grow.  It has become almost too large for a single day wandering and yet they continue to push back farther into the woods and cultivate and sculpt the landscape.  The kids watered the topiaries and ran through the maze near the the koi. Even made use of the new Hobbit inspired restroom built into the side of a hill with large round doors.  The fantasy continued with a trip to the Fairy Gardens.  Sophia, and I admit myself as well, became quite hooked on the idea of creating a fairy garden here at home.  So we spent the better part of a morning working with small herb plants to cultivate a large terracota pot on the patio into some fairy real estate. We did spend some time researching which plants would be best suited for their magical properties or at least warding off evil spirits. We have a lazy morning planned and then will head to the EC county forest for a short hike to check on some deer stands and then push on for some canoeing and camping on the Chippewa river.  It will be the kids first overnight canoe trip and I am hoping to hook them and have them hook a couple of fish.