John Visits West Virginia: 4

Hi, this is me, John A., again. My Pops has been very busy the past few days and so he has not been able to help me tell my side of the story. But today he said he would. And so we continue with how I saw my recent trip to West Virginia.

Let me start off by saying that if the message of my last blog was "Rain, Rain, Go away, Little Johnny wants to play." The message of this blog was that it did go away and I had two neat days outside with my parents and grandparents.

On Tuesday, we went to the Kanawha State Forest for a picnic, a hike, and some serious playground time. I had told my Mommy recently, after our recent trip to Wave Hill Park with my Auntie Martha, that I like to walk in the woods. And so, no sooner did we arrive at Kanawha State Forest, then we did just that. They have this neat trail, the call it the "Spotted Salamander Trail." It is one of those "accessible" trails, you know, someone with a wheel chair can use it. Well, it also means that someone like me, who is a fairly recent walker, can also have a lot of fun on it.

We walked along at an easy pace and we stopped several times so that GrandMom and Pops, and my Mommy and Daddy, could show me things that were interesting. For example, up above, I am feeling the bark of an Ironwood tree, a small tree my Mommy remembered from her camping days.

After our hike, we ate. And then it was time for me to go to the nearby playground. Unfortunately, the rain of the previous day had made parts of it too wet for me (for example, no slicky sliding because the landing area was a sea of mud). But I was still able to play on some of the equipment. They had this one neat climbing thing. At first I didn't know how to get up it, but then my Daddy showed me how, and I followed behind.

Then I found some neat "riding horses" on springs and really enjoyed rocking on them. In short, I had a good time. In the late afternoon, we returned to GrandMom's and Pops' house and after dinner, we played in their back yard. My Daddy showed me some more soccer moves, and then he and Mommy got out the badmitten set. I watched for a while, and then decided that I could help Mommy. So she tried to show me how to serve the shuttlecock. Well, I tried, and I almost did it once or twice, but it was a bit much for me.

So, I ended up the evening by pulling around a turtle pull-toy that my Mommy had gotten as a kid from one of my Pops' family friends. And while this did not make all the neat sounds that the dog I had been pulling makes, it was still a fun thing to pull. All in all, it was a neat day filled with lots of fun things for a boy like me.

The next day we all went up to the family farm in Greenbrier County. While we were there, I took a walk down a farm road with Mommy, Daddy, and GrandMom (Pops had to stay at the house and wait for a repairman). While on this walk, I learned a new game, I call it "Jumping over the cow patties" (my Mommy called it something else, but see my other log to find out what). At any rate, it was a lot of fun, though somewhat tiring on my Daddy's arms.

After our walk, I took a nap, and then we left to return to Kanawha County. On our way we stopped at a favorite place of my Grandparents, Tamarack. It is a neat place with all this stuff that little guys like me should stay away from. Beyond that, it has a nice cafeteria-style place, on it is run by The Greenbrier. We had a nice dinner there, and then we left to return home. But not before I had a chance to engage in my favorite pastime: Wall walking.

All it all, I had a neat time both days. I like it when it doesn't rain!

John A.