Aiden and Colin
Did you know that one of the largest collection of unearthed dinosaur tracks is located in Connecticut? We had no idea until Aiden became obsessed with dinosaurs about 6 months ago, during which time we learned all kinds of dinosaur facts and names (and had to unlearn some from our own childhood- who knew Brontosaurus is no longer a scientifically valid dino moniker?) ANYway, in true 4-year-old style, Aiden has since become obsessed with Legos, Star Wars, pirates, t-ball, Bakugan (don't ask), Harry Potter, and skateboarding... and when an obsession is in full effect there is no room for much of anything else, apparently. If you ask him if he likes dinosaurs today, he'll say "Not so very much. I like Star Wars now." As if a person can never like more than one thing at a time.
Dino Tats
Trails at Dino State Park
Haley eating a dino puzzle
Despite dinos being yesterday's news, we planned a trip to CT to visit our law school friends the Hamiltons and check out Dinosaur State Park where you can view actual dino tracks in the exact spot they were found. It was pretty cool, actually-- sometime in the 60s the site was being excavated for a large development and the heavy equipment operator noticed one of the tracks and stopped his work so that someone from the state could check it out (amazing really, that he just keep digging). A few weeks later, or so the story goes, the site was declared a state park. A museum has been built over the excavated dilophosaurus tracks, which run in all directions on the floor below an elevated boardwalk. Aiden had a great time rekindling his love for prehistoric beasts (not one mention of Darth Vader or Annakin Skywalker) and exploring the museum with buddies Colin and Bryce. The museum grounds were pretty cool too, with plenty of walking trails and interesting "ancient" arboretum specimens like ginkos and monkey puzzle trees.
Tracks and dino models at Dino State Park
3 boys on a rock
We also spent some quality time at Jason & Julie's house in West Hartford, where Julie made us a delicious summer picnic lunch and Jason poured pints of watermelon beer from a local brewery. Don't knock it till you've tried it... the watermelon beer is really good! It was steamy hot in the afternoon so Colin and Aiden played in the sprinklers while Bryce and Haley napped.
Sprinkler drinks
Colin telling me that Aiden is nuts
Last weekend was also Father's Day, so we did our best to make Andy's day special. He still had to mow the lawn though (it was either that or watch both the kids at the same time while they try to do different semi-destructive things on opposite ends of the house... hmmm... wonder why he turned down my offer to mow for him?) ... And I'm sure he also did 7 loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher, watered all the plants and went to the dump. The man is a house work machine. But the kids also showered him with homemade gifts in the morning, and then we all packed in the swagger wagon and headed to Lebanon to cheer him on in Skip's Run, a 4-mile race to support brain cancer research. Aiden also decided to run the 1-mile fun run, his 4th running race to date. In the afternoon, after a nice lunch out, we went to Low Plain to dragonhunt and explore. The coolest find of the day was a leech that Aiden caught in his net, about 2 inches long and totally revoltingly fascinating. We watched it for awhile and then let it go, but we all stayed well out of the mucky water after that. We had gotten complacent since our first leech sighting there about a year ago, and had been wading in to catch dragonflies, frogs and fish to examine. I think it'll be awhile before the memory of this little bugger fades though. Eeeewww.
Aiden getting ready for the 1 mile run
Face painting after the run
Chester Cheetah
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