a whimsical afternoon

Our weekends have been pretty chill since March.  Luckily we have a crew that every summer adds, "stay in our pajamas all day" to the bucket list.  We thrive on slow mornings, lots of reading and family board/card games.  

Even so, Ian and I have tried to plan at least one "family outing" per weekend to mix things up a little bit.  These family outings have taken us to new outdoor locations to explore, hikes, parks and "urban walks."  

  

This week I happened to stumble upon news of the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in a nearby town.  There was a guy in the town I grew up in who made and sold whirligigs from his home on the highway, so for me there was a bit of nostalgia mixed in with the idea of seeing someone's handiwork.  I'm not sure what I was expecting of a whirligig park, but let's just say the Vollis Simpson park blew my expectations up to new heights.

I mean, the sheer size of these things.  No wonder there are "only" 30 of his sculptures there.

The kids all agreed that they were pretty cool.  And then two minutes after we arrived, began to ask, "Is this all?"  

Sigh. 

In their defense, it had been nearly an hour drive.  I guess they were expecting something a bit bigger.  Not to let some of the snarky attitudes sabotage the field trip, Ian quickly came up with a fun idea.  We handed off our phones and told each kid to take a selfie with their favorite whirligig in the background.  

caleb *may* have needed a little help in getting motivated.

Others quickly took to the challenge though.

Both masked and not...

there were very few other people there, so it was easy to keep six feet apart

Darcy liked a lot of the whimsical structures, 

but said the windmill was her favorite.

My darling oldest child.  She's in a selfie phase.  But not the "typical" selfies most teenage girls seem to take.  

Nope.  This one is a selfie trendsetter all on her own.  

one day she may regret all the "fun surprises" she's left on my phone in the past year ~ I mean, they may revisit her at graduation time or even at a rehearsal dinner.
but then again, maybe not...she'll probably just strike one of her awesome expressions. 

Because I love her though, I'll share one of my favorites capturing the real K-Boo.

Nat also had a hard time deciding which was her favorite.

So she decided to retake with more in the background.

Nicholas was drawn to the plane.

In all it was worth the excursion.

This one may have been my favorite, reminding me of our not this year yearly pilgrimage to the state fair closing with a ride on the ferris wheel.  

Ah 2020 and your cancelled events.  

Even so, the cancellation of our usual events has pushed us to seek new adventures. 

And while I look forward to reinstating many of our traditions, I'm glad for experiencing some new things.  

While we were in Wilson Ian and I planned to visit either a bakery or ice cream shop as a sweet treat to end the adventure.  The weather was perfect, so we walked the empty streets of downtown instead of riding in the van.  We did find some fun artwork, but all three shops in town were either closed for the day or shuttered until the pandemic subsides.  There *may have been* a little bit of grumbling from the back of the van on the way home about not getting the treat they were promised, but we just turned on the radio and pretended we didn't hear it.  

Thankfully we have a resident baker who was prepared to save the day, so there was a tres leches pumpkin cake to finish out the day!