Wednesday, June 9
Eau Claire, WI
Wednesday was one of our most fun days on our trip. It started out with a morning walk around the farm with Collin and Annie. We needed to get out of the house so we wouldn't wake Grandma and Grandpa up too early.
The path was full of these bright little orange hawkweed flowers. We have the yellow variety in Indiana (We saw them on our spring Leonard Springs Hike).
Along our walk, we found a huge patch of wild strawberries. I was skeptical about trying them, because all the wild strawberries I've had in Indiana have been dry, seedy, and flavorless. These tiny berries were bursting with tart sweetness! Strawberries grow really well in western Wisconsin's sandy soil, and these were no exception.
Look at how small they are! Annie couldn't get enough of them. They were perfect for snacking on, although sometimes a little sandy since they hadn't been mulched with straw.
For lunch the whole family (grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) caravaned out to Owen Park, down on the Chippewa river in Eau Claire.
Annie got to play on the fancy teeter-totter with cousin Eddy...
...and slide down the big twisty slide with daddy...
...and sit on the really cool hand sculpture. Now THAT was exciting!
There are hands like this, painted in different ways, all over the city of Eau Claire.
Eddy found a path to slide (on his butt) down to the river. We all joined him.
Even Annie got to go wading!
A whole bunch of ducks showed up, so we shared some of our picnic with them. I'm not really sure why Ellie is looking at the camera so grumpily, but it is a priceless photo of her. Notice in the background Auntie Nomie is letting Annie try to pet the ducks.
That's a better picture of Ellie!
Here's a fun video of the kids feeding the ducks. Eddy tended to eat the chips they were feeding the ducks more than share them.
Finally, we headed back out to the farm for a quiet afternoon and evening. The neighbor who grows crops on the Hobbs farm was there harvesting his corn from last year. We all wondered why he'd waited until the following June. Still, it was a nice summer evening, and fun for the kids to watch the combine bring the harvest in.
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