Dreaming of local adventures

This weekend was about as perfect as you could ask for: Brilliant, dry, warm but not hot, the air the color of honey, the sky impossibly blue. The boys were off school on Friday and we took full advantage of the weather and free time. We’ve done lots of traveling over the past few months, and while I always love to explore new places with my boys it’s also fun to adventure a little closer to home, revisiting old haunts, trying some new tricks.

On Friday we broke out the GPS we bought Tommy for his birthday and went on a treasure hunt at Brandywine Creek State Park in Wilmington.

We located the three caches hidden there as part of the Delaware Geocaching Trail, including this microcache tucked on the underside of a handrail on a wooden footbridge.

Saturday it was time for annual fall visit to Longwood Gardens to play hide and seek in the Topiary Garden, admire the pumpkins (we saw one that was over 700 pounds!), and bask in the purple beauty of asters and phlox.

On Sunday the boys wanted to visit the Delaware Children’s Museum, where they climbed walls, built towers, dammed water, fixed cars, went fishing, and thought about a trip around the world.

I know I’ll be dreaming of our leisurely fall adventures all week as homework and baseball and piano practice. Sometimes we don’t have go far from home to return stimulated, educated, and refreshed.