The beach was incredibly calm for a Friday morning, but then it was in the sixties.  The playground had an added bonus of being right next to a pavilion with free wi-fi. Always a bonus when we have no service.

Nature Center – An entertaining ranger talk on wolves and a creative wolf craft.

The female wolf was once a resident of the park.  She was killed by a farmer who mistook her for a coyote.  Both kids really got into the craft even though they knew the likelihood of the craft surviving our trip was small.  The ranger showed everyone both kids’ work highlighting their creativity.

We had a beautiful butterfly keeping our cooler towel company while we were at the Nature Center.

We finally got in a canoe trip. The bluffs and caves were calling our names.

The waves were a little rougher than we would have liked and at one point I had a wave completely envelop the front of the boat.  No one else saw it and thought I was making up fisherman tales.  They had fun teasing me the rest of the trip about the fifty foot waves.  The tower peaking over the top of the trees is Eagle Tower which is set to be demolished in just ten days.

We went for a hike along the bluffs.  We weren’t sure which way the trail went until we found the super helpful blue arrow.

Someone, I plead the fifth, forgot the diced tomatoes for our planned dinner of Jiffy Jambalaya, so Scott cooked up the sausage and peppers with rice and we still had a delicious dinner.  Scott was trying to split up the firewood in hopes of having it burn better, but he wound up having to golf swing at the maul once it was stuck in a knot. Brooke overheard me saying to Scott, “You playing golf?”  Brooke asked, “Dad plays golf?”  I replied, “Only with an axe sweetheart.”

Lunch of sloppy Joes.

Hour and a half canoe and hiking trip. (Fifty foot waves.)

Time at the beach.

The drive-in!

The main movie for the night was Finding Dory. The short before the movie was about a little bird and changing your perspective in order to help you face your fears.  Not only to not be imprisoned by your own thoughts, but to also help others soar and be successful.   Which tied together nicely with a real life lesson my kids learned playing on the playground before the movie.  There was a boy going into sixth grade.  He waited more than ten minutes to get on a swing. When it was his turn he let himself fall out of his wheelchair and dragged himself by his arms to the swing.  Where he grabbed the swing and flung himself right up.  Then he proceeded to swing so high it looked like he was preparing to launch to the slowly appearing stars.  This all right after Cody asked me to push him on the swing.  My kids were speechless already, but then the boy shared with us that he was lucky that he could swing so high now.  He said it used to be harder to swing when his legs were longer, but that he met a doctor who said with his Spinal Bifida that he should have his legs shortened and just stop trying to walk and stay in a wheelchair.  The boy shared that it wasn’t easy to get perfect attendance with all of his doctor appointments, but that he was able to get outstanding attendance with less than five absences. He also shared that his grades were all A’s which also wasn’t easy with all his surgeries, but that he just kept working hard and was determined.