turtle whisperer

While camping at Timber-Lee, we visited their Science Center. They have live animals and lots of interesting exhibits. We took the grandies for a tour. Grandson liked handling live snakes in the reptile house. I thought that was cool. Here is our little wild man staring down a painted turtle. Ha! The serene pose works for the photograph, but I know the real child, and what he is capable of. When we went downstairs, all the children were instructed to sit akimbo on a carpet, while the tour guide gave some basic information and handling instructions for the small mammals and birds. Boy is two and-a-half, so he completely ignored the presenter. Instead, when he saw that Poppa was sitting on the carpet, he remembered our game from the day before. That means that he rushes me for a tackle... over and over and over... That's the equivalent to doing one hundred sit-ups!

.

Granddaughter did not handle the animals, and for the most part, she refused to be handled by anyone other than her auntie. But every once in a while, she forgot that she decided that she was not supposed to be having fun. Here, she found delight simply by lying flat on the floor.

.

Before the week was over, Granddaughter smiled more and more, sometimes laughing and hugging. She is still much more reserved than her big brother, but all things considered, there was a remarkable turn-around in her initial demeanor from last Thursday!

.

My daughter made one comment about their time away. She talked about how much she was able to enjoy the vacation with her husband, especially without having to constantly look down and exclaim, "Omigosh! Where are the kids?" I'm glad we could do that for them. It made us real tired, but isn't that what love is about?