Norah: Mommy, Why am I so smart?
Me: Could you think of some reasons?
Norah: One, I am older and have more practice. I am the third oldest in my class. Two, I have an older brother. Most of my classmates don't. My brother taught me a lot of things.
Me thinking: I am convinced!
Grandma and Grandpa came down today to help with installing Ella's engine. It was a long day, but we got then engine in at last.
Free advice - don't drop a big wrench on your chin :-)
We had this conversation a few weeks ago.
Jackson: Would you rather be a shape-shifter or a time-traveler?
Me: Shape-shifter since time travel creates all the confusion questions.
Jackson: Yeah, the grandfather paradox!
Me: How did ..? Could you explain to us?
Jackson went on to explain the paradox.
Then he said his three wishes: 1. Be a shape-shifter 2. Has infinity amount of money 3. Has the power to command nature.
Even we don't know what is a 7-year old norm, his vocabulary and ideas never ceases to amaze us.
We had a great time camping at Possum Kingdom State park this Easter weekend. On our way there, Will told us the story of Bill, Jenny and Grandma, Grandpa's outing to Possum Kingdom in the 70es. Jackson summarized the keywords as 30 mile/hour wind and smooshed fry chicken. Later he commented that our trip had one thing in common with Grandparents' trip -- the wind!
Our campsite was one of the primitive sites. It was the last one left for the park but we liked the location nevertheless. We had to hike 300 yards from the car to our site (8) and liked the remoteness of the place. However, it was windy both days we were there. We recommend site 1,2,10 for more protection from the wind and more private.
We were located steps away from one of the only two hiking trails in the park. Climbing the hills in the backyard made up big part of kids' entertainment. We tried fishing but the water near the campgrounds is very shallow and not a good fishing place. People got lots of fish near the dock but it's a hike for us.
We rented a pontoon boat to check out Hell's Gate on Sunday morning. It was nice to be on the water and check out the famous site. Water is clear and deep; houses are big and fancy. Without water activities, we concluded 3 hours on a boat was the limit for our two kids.
I brought my camera and remote to the trip so we got a couple of nice family portraits.
We enjoyed this family camping trip and Norah rated this trip infinity thumbs up!
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| Eating breakfast |
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| Under the starry night |
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| Climbing in the backyard |
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| View from the hilltop - our tent and state park and beyond |
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| Our family portrait -- Love backlit photos! |
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| Our kids |
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| Captain Jack |
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| Captain Norah |
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| Hell's Gate |
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| Mandatory S'more |
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| Will paddling against 25 mile/hour wind |
Like last spring break, we decided to stay at home. Sunday morning, we said good bye to all the neighbor friends on Forest Trail. Both kids loved JCC's camp, yet I still looked for some ways to have a slightly different spring break.
I saw my friend Stephanie's photos with her family at Mineral Wells and knew Jackson and Norah would love it too. After some reading, I found there is a fossil park nearby. We decided to make it a long trip with the state park and fossil park on our last day of spring break.
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| They loved climbing the big boulders along the trail |
This park also has a well maintained bike trail system, a small section of sandy beach and a boat rental place. We checked out the camping area and planned to come back some day.
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| Starting our fossil dig |
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| From Pennsylvania Period |
Fossil park is about 20 minutes west of the state park. We brought our garden tools and a bucket. But there is so much abundance of the fossil, no tools are needed. And the fossils are so small, they fit in a small ziploc bag and no bucket is needed either. We all had a blast picking out these tiny fossils everywhere on the valley floor. This park used to be where city pulls the dirt fill from and it was turned into a public park after they realized how many fossils were here.
Jackson and Norah had so much fun digging. I told them about the diamond park in Arkansas. Now Jackson is very interested in going to the diamond park.
It's a fun day ending our 2021 spring break.
Saturday Jackson and Norah had their first business venture to sell eggs and bread.
Jackson invited his friend Coleson to join. Total three of them sold 2 bread, 7 eggs and broke 2 eggs. They each earned $6 after I took out the cost of material.
Jackson and Coleson are natural in sales. They stopped walkers and waved the signs to traffic. They also did a good job marketing the product.
