There were so many interesting things to see and do at Smith Park in Middletown. We threw sticks into the lake (this never gets old for these two), then we got to see three planes take off from the small airport next to the park.



These geese were blocking the path, but as we walked slowly towards them they got up and moved with minimum honking!

There was a section of the paved path that had games painted onto the pavement. Emery especially liked the letters. She stepped on each letter in her name to "spell" it out.
o

I am having some problems uploading pictures today. I did finally get this one picture uploaded from our visit to Smith Park in Middletown. The kids enjoyed watching a few older kids show off their skills at the skate park.

Last week we went to Smith Park in Middletown. The park had a paved trail around it (over a mile long), and several other features including playground equipment, a splash park, a lake, and a small airfield right next to the park.

Here are some more pics from our hike at Siebenthaler Fen.

Most of the time when we hike I stay in the back and let Kenton lead. Both kids were in front of me, and had already walked on this part of the trail, when I took this last picture. I did not tell them about it at the time. I waited until we got back to the van and showed them the picture. Neither one of them seemed too shaken about it, but neither of them said that they wished they had seen it in person, either. It might be hard to tell from the picture, but it was still VERY alive and slithering around.

After a really wet Spring (I think I've mentioned that once or twice), we finally got to take a hike in Siebenthaler Fen. Being a wetland, it was very wet, and actually closed for much of the Spring because the pathways were flooded. We had a great hike through our favorite wetland.

Last week we went to the Cincinnati Zoo with Aunt Bobbie, Keesha's brother and his family (Kenny, Christy, and Colton). All the kids had a great time visiting with each other and looking at all the animals.

A couple of weeks ago we met my family in Bloomington, IN for the weekend. We had a great visit and had fun in the college town. Before meeting up with my family we stopped at WonderLab, a children's science museum in Bloomington. The kids had a great time there, but unfortunately our camera decided to stop working after just a couple of pictures.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Parky's Ark splash park at Winton Woods in Cincinnati with Aunt Bobbie. The kids had a great time and Emery made a new friend (see last pic). The temp was up in the 90's so it was an awesome day to get wet!

The kids and I went out to Sun Watch a couple of weeks ago. This outdoor museum is in Dayton, but we had never been out to it before. Sun Watch is believed to be the first settlement (about 500 years ago) in the Dayton area.

Here are a few more pics from the end of our hike at Sara Arnovitz Nature Preserve. The hike ends with a bridge (one of many on the hike) where the kids can throw rocks and sticks into the creek.

We were finally able to get the pool out and cool off!

Here are some more pics from our hike at Sara Arnovitz Nature Preserve. This hike is probably about a mile long and take us about 45 minutes (that includes several minutes throwing rocks and sticks into the creek).

We did not get to take many hikes in the spring because of the cool, very wet weather. Finally things have dried out and warmed up! Here are some pictures of a hike we took a couple of weeks ago at Sara Arnovitz Nature Preserve here in Xenia. We always have fun on this trail.