Feeling a little antsy after the start of the school year and with a whole lot of hours available to us on the weekends with the sad cancelation of the UNI football season, we packed up the van on a whim the last Saturday of August and drove to Backbone State Park - just about 45 minutes from home. We had taken the boys a few years back and had really enjoyed our day so we thought it would be a great idea to take advantage of our still summer-like weather and let our girl explore a bit.
And she LOVED it.
We always start at the beach. And though we didn't swim in the water, Cody caved and rented a paddle boat after Brandon's near temper-tantrum when he initially said no ;), and we braved taking our girl on her first boat ride!
Her little pony made me swoon all day long.
It wasn't the most relaxing boat ride, but it was memorable! Brandon and Kaitlyn match each other with their stubbornness, and Kaitlyn was insistent upon steering the boat herself - though she had no idea how to do so and kept trying to turn the boat towards the neighboring party that had just capsized theirs! And anytime Brandon would try to take command of the ship, Kaitlyn would yank his hands off the controls and yell at him, which in turn frustrated Brandon until eventually we had to cut our journey a little short, and I made him drive us back to the beach. ;)
After snacks and the playground, we really spent the majority of the rest of our time in the trout stream! This was the favorite activity the last time we had visited, and Kaitlyn could have stayed in that ice cold water all day long.
By mid-afternoon, our girl was in need of a nap and we journeyed home before evening. A shorter visit with a two year old in tow, but memorable just the same. Looking forward to watching her spread her wings and grow her adventurous spirit even more this upcoming summer.
