A day on the trail ....

Today the family decided to take advantage of the weather and take a stroll around Newport News Park. It is a delightfully pretty park with a number of trails that wind around a historically significant reservoir. As with many strategic places in this area, it was the sight of military interest in both the Revolutionary War as well as more notably, the Civil War. There are some surprisingly well preserved earthworks and gun emplacements scattered throughout the woods with informative signs posted along the way.

I confess that in spite of my interest in the Civil War I have never really taken the time to read much about the details of the campaign since every time we walk there I have been distracted by the natural beauty of the place.

The path we tend to walk circumnavigates it's way around the reservoir, closely following the marshy shore line. There are some very nice boardwalks that give you a chance to do some bird watching or, on days like today, some very entertaining turtle watching. Both Colleen and I get a kick out of watching the various turtles as the sun themselves.

Here are some shots that Colleen took of a couple of Great Blue Herons we saw today.







Sequoia really seemed to enjoy her ride around the trail even though it was quite bumpy. She was awake and alert through the entire ride. Colleen got a good laugh watching me zig-zag my way down the trail as if I was competing in a crazy agility course.
All I was trying to do was miss as many roots as possible ... all I managed to do was hit them at different angles.
This is some of my fancy footwork. It doesn't look too bad from here....

I think that the look on Sequoia's face (read " what are you doing Daddy?") says it all though. Regardless of what Colleen says, I know deep in my heart that Sequoia was enjoying our obstacle course as much as I was.



We even thought ahead and packed Sequoia a lunch. OK, all we did was bring along Colleen, but that works just as well. Here Colleen shows off the very slick feeding shawl that her mom (Sequoia's Mamasita) sewed for her. It is a classy way to feed in public. I personally love the two little legs sticking out ... pretty cute. This morning, before our walk, we had breakfast at the Silver Diner (one of Colleen's favorite places for breakfast) and we had to feed Sequoia in the booth between ordering and getting our food. Colleen and I both got a big laugh when she pulled out the nursing shawl and put it on because it looked like she was putting on the world's largest bib. People had to wonder what she was about to eat that was going to be that messy.

Anyway, we were very proud of how well Sequoia did today. Every time we do something new with her it is a bit of an experiment. I imagine that will be a trend that continues pretty much indefinitely now. So far, Sequoia is making us look like reasonably good parents.