Fall Pocono Adventures

Jill, Ben & I recently spent a long weekend at our friend George's Pocono house.  I've been going to this house with George and our other friends at least once a year since high school (almost 25 years ago!).  So going with with Jill and Ben was a new experience for me.  We had a great time and even did some things that I've never done before in all the years that I've spent in the Poconos.



We drove up late on a Friday night so Ben slept the entire way there and stayed asleep until the next morning.  Since we've done with this Ben before, I've often thought that it must be really weird to fall asleep in one place and then wake up someplace completely different.  So it was no surprise that when he woke up on Saturday morning and he was definitely confused as to where he was.  I walked him around the house and pointed out all the cool things around and in about five minutes he was off exploring.  There's lots of interesting things to find and play with in George's house.  This horn being a fine example....

There were also two kayaks sitting in the living room and porch that he climbed in and out of a dozen times, a couple TVs with about 6 remotes that he carried around the house for most of the weekend.   I was excited to show Ben the lake, because he's never seen one before.   I don't think he realized that the lake was actually water until I threw a little rock in to make a splash.  As soon as he realized the lake was actually a big pool, he wanted to go in.  This is pretty much why I don't have any pictures of this moment; I was busy trying to keep him from running into the cold lake!  I finally just had to pull him away and we explored some other areas and we even made a new friend!

 Then we discovered that leaves are fun to walk around in and kick...

Whew... time for a break..



There are a few things that we know Ben likes to do that are also available in the Poconos - playgrounds and zoos.  We've taken him to both many times before, so why not in the Poconos too!  So that afternoon we took a ride to a local zoo in the woods.  The nice thing about Pennsylvania is they are a little more relaxed with things..  When we go to zoos or petting zoos in NJ, we usually have to pet or feed the animals through the fence.  But not in Pennsy!   Ben got to jump right in and get real close to the animals!

Look at Ben feeding a giraffe! 

And here he is herding some turtles!

And having a discussion with some goats!

No, no, Ben... you can't stick your finger in the goat's nose.

Then throughout the weekend we took many walks around the neighborhood and of course stopped at a couple of the playgrounds.  We certainly can't walk by a playground without stopping - especially when there's a big duck staring at you!

And a Frog too!

After checking out the duck and the frog, we headed to the swing - but we usually only last a few minutes here...

And then we're off to the slide.  

Little slides are fun, but...

Ben decided he was ready for this big slide!  Up we both went!

  And down Ben goes!!
And check out they psychedelic picture on the way down! 
Yes, that's Jill at the top end and there is a big smile on Ben's face too. 
We must have gone up and down this big slide 20 times.

 

After sliding for a while, our little eagle eye spotted some dogs walking by, so we chased them down we got to pet them for a while.  Their masters couldn't stand there all day and needed to keep walking, so we stared at them as they walked away and then spent five minutes waving good bye to them.  Too cute.

The next day Ben and I decided that we would try going out on the kayak together.  Jill was pretty much freaked out about it, but she felt a little better when I told her that most of the lake was no deeper than my knee.  So we gave it a try.  The toughest part was getting Ben in the life preserver.  He wasn't happy about that at all.

But once we were in the water, all he wanted to do was play in the water.

So we didn't stay out long in the kayak.  We headed back to the dock where we took off Ben's shoes and let him dangle his feet in the water and use some sticks to make splashes.

I think maybe we'll wait until next year to try kayaking again.  We'll stick to swimming and splashing in the pool for now.

What better way to end the day than to build a fire. 
Ben helped Daddy put the wood in the fireplace.

 And we all enjoyed watching the fire as we all drifted off to sleep I think before 9PM.  I can't remember... we were all exhausted!