Saturday, April 16, 2016

Dog Parks, Holes-In-One, Waterfalls, Snowmen, and Half-Baked Ice Cream

I'm not a fearful person in general, but sometimes when I have whole weeks ahead to entertain a three and a half year old for over 9 hours a day, flying solo (Christi is wisely spending the final days of tax season with family down in California), I get a little antsy.  So, we get a little creative with how we fill our days.

On Monday, I had the benefit of having the Schilling kids around.  (It was an inservice day for their district).  Nati and Ellie went with me to the Splash park and dog park (obviously, Sahalie went too).


Upon arrival home, Whitley was entertained by Traig, teaching her how to cast in the back yard with her BRAND NEW BARBIE FISHING POLE!  (It lights up on the handle - so COOL!).

On Tuesday, the last official day of the school year's Bible Study occurred.  We entertained ourselves in the elevator for a bit - this time she did not press the "CALL FOR ASSISTANCE" button (that was embarrassing last time).  


I told her if she was a good sport about going into her class during Bible Study (sometimes she gets a little fearful), we'd go golfing.  She was a GREAT sport - so we were on our way to Putters for the afternoon.

What a cutie-patooty golfer!  However her form and golf etiquette might need a little work before she begins competitive play. 



I set her up with the hand hold on this shot... but, she didn't opt to stick with it.  

She got pretty tickled when she finally got the ball in the hole.

I kid you not, at this hole - she got a HOLE IN ONE!   All her - no help at all on my part!  

Woohoo!  So proud of this girl!

We killed a little time in the arcade too - her first "Plinko" video game choice netted us 350 tickets right off the bat.  Score!

Our "Putters" experience ended in the indoor playground - where we met some fun new friends to play with.  

With a little more time to kill before picking up Mikayla from school, we checked out some parks in that part of Eugene.  Whitley is all about blowing Dandelion wishes these days.  When I asked her what she wished for, without batting an eye, she replied, "A turtle".  Okay - I thought, with all the recent interest in cat videos, she was gunning for a kitten, but what do I know? =)

Wednesday was actually spent at home and in our own neighborhood.  We walked to the park after dropping off Sahalie to get spayed, and spent some significant time on the trampoline (as well as watching Funny Cat Videos).

Thursday was ridiculously wet.  100% chance of rain and over and inch and a half came down.  So, we hit the movie theater and watched "Zootopia" for the second time.  She's definitely getting into the movies more these days, but it comes at the cost of her very loud questioning of what's taking place on screen.  Hopefully, by the time this gem is released in June, we'll have gotten past that!  (Can't wait!) 

I wasn't even sure what we were going to do Friday morning at the point of dropping Mikayla off.  However, upon noticing Whitley being pretty content watching a video in her cozy jammies in the backseat, I thought - "Let's go for it" - and off we went - traversing into the mountains for an adventure.

All that precipitation came down as snow above 3500 feet, but Friday had already begun the weather pattern's "turn up the dial" - as predictions have the temperatures expected to be in the mid-80's by Monday.   So, while the roads were safe and clear, there was quite a bit of white stuff to tromp around in at the top of the mountains. 

Our first stop was Sahalie Falls - to get a pick of Sahalie with her "namesake", and let Whitley make footprints, snowballs, and a snowman. 



I love this destination - and love the hike around these falls and the accompanying Koosah Falls even more.  But, Friday was not the day for hiking...not with a pre-schooler in the snow, and a dog recovering from being spayed.




We whipped this guy out in short order.  


His nose is an apple-cinnamon straw from Whitley's snack bag.  =)

I thought it would be adorable to leave the little guy in the parking lot where he was built at - but Whitley wanted to hide him.  So we left him safely underneath a tree further away - so he wouldn't melt as fast.  

I was so giddy driving this route - it was truly filling my soul with every turn of the bend and outlook on God's creation in such brilliant display!

Our final destination was the Metolius area where we would spend the third Friday in a row feeding fish!  (Please, Lone Pine Farms - open up for the season, I would rather feed goats than fish any day!).  Wizard Falls is great, but...

It's the view of the river going over the bridge to the entrance that takes the cake.  UNBELIEVABLE. 

More quarters to buy more fish food and throw it into display ponds.


And maybe to not-so-interested geese.

The benefit of this hatchery is this beautiful pond to walk around.  We had lunch at a bench with this as our view.


And, this place, our beloved Camp Sherman General Store!  I told her our final adventure for the day would be getting some ice cream.  (Friday Funday!)

Whitley wasn't content just getting an ice cream bar - as I had planned to get - and instead just wanted chocolate ice cream.  Oh.  "Well, here's a Ben and Jerry's "Half Baked Ice Cream" we could share together that has chocolate ice cream in it".  She made a valiant effort, but only took care of maybe a quarter of it.  Seriously, Whitley?  Do you know the calorie content?  And, it's not like I can keep it frozen to take it home....and I spent $6.50 for this little pint - I mean, I can't let it go to waste!  And, chocolate is bad for dogs, so I can't share it with Sahalie.  Sigh.  It was left up to me to finish it off.  

That was indeed the finale of our busy, abundant week.  I definitely enjoyed my one-on-one time with Whitley, but I look forward to sharing adventures with our Harris girl friends as soon as they return!

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