Today we decided to resurrect a tradition from Christina's family. On Valentine's Day, her dad would make all the kids a banana split sundae in special banana split bowls. Christina remembers them being pretty spectacular, and hers didn't exactly measure up here...no one can make a perfectly round scoop of ice cream like Grandpa!
Still, the girls seemed okay with them.
Well, with a cherry on top - wait, TWO cherries on top - any sundae passes muster!
Christina thought there was no way the girls would each finish a banana split, and assumed she and Steve would get to help eat the sundaes. Christina thought wrong.
We decided that we needed to burn off all of that sugar, so we took the girls for a nature walk. We went to the same place as in July, when we never made it out of sight of the car. But today, we made it all the way to the river! The girls spent most of the nature walk "flying."
And, as you can see here, they were so excited that they did occasionally achieve lift-off!
Soft Dog knows how to fly, too - who knew?
And Clara's pig does his best, too, although you know what they say about pigs flying.
Even Steve and Christina got in on the flying - it was contagious.
But we did actually try to examine nature, too. Here, the girls checked on some of the grasses that didn't get covered in snow.
And Clara picked some...we'll call this weed control vs. vandalism of nature.
Elena found this stick and gave it to Steve...
...who decided it was a divining rod for finding sweet girls. Luckily, there were several in his vicinity to be found!
Then, a wonderful nature discovery...
...the rare bark-covered-thumb. The girls were suitably impressed with this show of "nature."
When we got to the river, Elena got pretty pouty about the fact that she couldn't actually get TO the river. She had decided she wanted to go fishing.
Here's her face when Steve told her he'd take her back to this exact same spot in the spring to teach her to fish. This, coincidentally, is where Steve taught Grandma (Christina's mom) to fish!
Demure Clara wasn't quite so worried about fishing until...
...she spied the people who were wading in the water fishing at that very moment.
With the the promise of future fishing lessons, she was also appeased.
The girls' companions had been relatively well behaved till the end of the walk, when both of them climbed trees! Elena is amazed at Soft Dog in a tree.
And Clara is pretty much just mad at the pig...who was promptly returned to the ground.
One more attempt at sugar eradication from the system was undertaken, disguised as a game of let's-jump-off-a-bench.
And thus ended a perfectly lovely walk. It was a loving way to celebrate a holiday of love, and an auspicious day to celebrate a new year (Chinese New Year) so we had all of our bases covered.
Kung Hei Fat Choi, and Happy Valentine's Day!
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