An Excellent Abby Idea

Will and I were trying to talk Abby into going shopping for a new desk chair tonight, but Abby wouldn't have it! Her normal operating behaviour these days when she simply does not want to do something (in this case, be dragged around from store to store in search of the perfect chair) is to cry and fuss.

But tonight Abby employed a new strategy that totally caught us off guard -- she made a counter offer!!!!!

"I know," she said, "let's go fossil hunting at Quarry Hill Park!" We were both expecting the ubiquitous tears and complaints and quite simply were stopped dead in our tracks! We quickly recovered and said we thought it was a wonderful idea!

We enjoyed the nature center (where Will got swallowed by Stan the T-Rex).

We had a beautiful walk through the woods and meadow. Birds were singing and bugs chirping. We saw fish and turtles in the pond and we even found a few fossils.

We realized that the trail we chose came out quite close to Noni and Granddad's house, so we dropped in for a surprise visit. Noni and Abby had a good chat on the front steps.

We all walked up to Abby's favorite dinosaur park. Abby called the slides kooky slides as she slid down head first!

The hike back through Quarry Hill Park started with a steep climb, but brave Abby kept the "my legs won't work" to a minimum. By the time we got back to the car, Abby was plumb tuckered out!!