A Weekend Excursion

Every weekend, we look for new parks for David to explore since he knows every inch of most parks in our neighborhood. So, finding one that he is not very familiar with is a difficult task. One of our favorite parks is Flat Rock Brook nature center in Englewood because every single time we'd go there, we'd choose a different path to walk through and find different little things that make David very excited. Seth used to take only David there since Julia was too little for a walking adventure. However, in the last couple of weeks, Julia has proven that she can keep up with the rest of us, even though she might end up with a few bumps. Once there, we chose to follow the red path towards the Nature Center and pond. Seth came up with a game, "spot that red dot", where David would look for a tree with a red paint on it. Since he was so involved at finding a marked tree, he didn't even realize how long the walk was and didn't ask once to be carried. Unfortunately, every so often he'd trip over a root since he was looking for the red markings.

On the way, David stopped to throw a few rocks in the stream.

When a rock seemed too heavy to be picked up, he decided instead to climb up on it.

Once we reached the pond, David was disappointed that he couldn't throw any rocks due to the Nature Center rules. On the way back, he ran ahead of us, continuing the game of spotting the red spots. Once back to the entrance, Julia and David played in the playground (yes - the nature center even comes with its own play and picnic areas) for a little while before heading back home.
It was a nice walk in the fresh air (well... as fresh as it gets in NJ) just before our dinner which was a perfect end to yet another hectic weekend.