Looking for Nemo

Vacation Day 2

 

 

Grampa's sermon on the mount.

(not as beatific as the original)

Later, Andrew had to have a turn seeing the view from the top.

Gramma was too nervous to take a picture.  Our daycare license could be jeopardized.)

 

 

We went to Independence Grove to ride paddle boats, despite the bomb threats from the week before.  Grampa and Gramma flew to China two days after September 11th.  Grampa thinks it's safest to go after a threat, since security is higher. 

The boys demonstrated their boating knowledge by asking if we were going to throw the anchor overboard.  Grampa responded, "No, we need her to help me with the paddling."

It's a bit scary to put the boys on the back of the boat facing backwards with no seat belts.

As Matt pointed out to me; that wouldn't be a good idea in a boat.

 

 

And even scarier that there was water in the bottom of the boat

before we took off.

And nothing to bail with in the boat.

 

 

 

At first the boys were nervous.

Perhaps they didn't have faith in Gramma and Grampa's paddling.

They became even more nervous as we got farther from the shoreline.

Nathan kept cautioning us to not go near the buoy

and suggested it was time to return to the dock.

 

As they grew more comfortable,

he suggested we paddle close enough to touch the buoy.

 

 

Gramma who hates to swim, paddled for all she was worth.

 

 

We never found the owners of this boat.

I hope they made it safely to shore.

 

 

We enjoyed lunch on the deck following our boat ride. 

All the paddling made the boys very hungry.

 

 

From the deck, we could see very large fish.

There were in a large school eating French fries people were tossing to them,

under the sign that said,

"DO NOT FEED THE FISH/"

The fish were happy people can't read.

We did not feed the fish.

We were too hungry and did not have any French fries to offer.

 

 

Besides fish, there were beautiful flowers to look at.

Nothing said you couldn't feed the lilies.

 

Here's the lake we paddled our boat on.

 

 

Nolan cannot get enough of Andrew.

 

 

ALL of the boys were watching "Finding Nemo",

as a finish to our water day.

 

 

Gentleman's Friday

 

 

 

After returning from his wagon ride,

Nolan insisted he wanted a stroller ride, too.

He pushed it out of the garage himself

and managed to climb into the seat.

 

 

"Do you understand, I want to ride in this?"

 

 

"Grampa, are we going to cook a turkey on the driveway?"

 

 

 

Nolan and Gramma work on combing his hair.

Nolan likes to do it himself.

 

Doesn't he do a nice job?

 

 

Grampa and Nolan enjoy their bottles together.

 

 

It must be a Goedken thing!

They just look more natural with a bottle in their hand.

 

 

Nolan inherited shoes from the twins. 

He must have gotten one from each of them.

 

 

Somewhere there's another little boy who received a matching pair.

 

 

It's always a fun day, if there's a trip to Home Depot.

 

 

A two-fisted driver.

 

 

"Grampa, we've got to ride this home."