Living, Laughing, Learning…Daily
We have a SEVEN year old in the house. He’s suddenly very old- reading books, doing math in his head, and learning about, well, everything. He’s never met a documentary he didn’t like. He remembers EVERYTHING. He holds grudges about NOTHING. He’s still the sweetest, most affectionate kid I’ve ever met.
I love it when a plan comes together. Earlier this spring, my friend Liz and I were discussing assorted Indiana attractions, and we thought it’d be fun to take our families together to see Wolf Park. As luck would have it, we were able to coordinate calendars, and last Sunday, we headed north.
Wolf Park is only a few minutes off of I-65, so it was an easy trip. When we arrived, we were able to join the 2:15p tour.
Wolf Park offers tours during operating hours, and it’s the only way to see the wolves and coyotes. While we waited for the tour to begin, we could visit the foxes, who were quite entertaining.
On our tour, we started strolling around Turtle Lake, the park’s largest enclosure. We were able to see many of the wolves in the smaller enclosure as we made our way around. As we walked, our tour guide gave us a lot of really interesting information.
We also got to see coyotes, and learn how they differ from wolves. Coyotes are much smaller, and and a lot more common. They also howl – and we were able to howl with them (wolves are mostly silent, btw)! Wolf Park is also home to a herd of bison, which were fun to see. They are apparently a very low maintenece animal, aside from vet checks every so often, they are left largely to themselves.
The last stop on our tour were the foxes again, and these adorable little creatures captured our attention. Scarlett and Joker were very active, climbing all over the place,
After our adventure at the park, our own cubs were famished. We headed out to Triple XXX, of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives fame. It did not disappoint. Liz & I ordered the famous peanut butter burger, while the guys picked more traditional burgers. We inhaled the fresh root beer, and even had a little room for dessert. Triple XXX is also #33 on the Burgers, Brews & Dogs food trail– the perfect trail for summer family travel.
All in all, our little adventure was about a half day long- it was a perfect Sunday excursion. Still on our list around Lafayette is Prophetstown State Park. We’ve been to the waterpark there, but not the working farm. Maybe our two families will make before the end of the summer!
Disclosure: Thanks, Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette, for the admission to Wolf Park – we really enjoyed our visit!
We are on to week 3 of summer break, and I have to say, so far, so good. We’ve signed up for summer reading, we’ve attended VBS, scout camp and nature camp are on the horizon, and we have a couple of in-state getaways planned (more on those later). We’ve been to a taping of the Friday Zone in Bloomington, attended the June Indy Monthly Magic show, and we’ve been getting in plenty of pool time.
Here’s what we are hoping to accomplish in the next 7 weeks (yes, only 7. It’s sad):
Visit 6 different Waterparks- this is Mam’s idea. They are water bugs, so this is a good goal.
Get all 600 points for summer reading. This would be fantastic, we’d get all the prizes, and just imagine how good it would be for our brains! I do say though, I hope the comic/graphic novel phase wears off. I have a really hard time following/reading those.
DONE: Visit Wolf Park – we have plans with the Eternal Lizdom crew to visit in a couple of weeks. We’ve been meaning to visit basically since it opened, so you know, it’s good we’re going now. (post on this coming SOON)
Visit the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo– again, this is something I’ve wanted to do since I learned about it. Again, good that we’re going before the children are able to drive themselves there.
Visit Holiday World & Splashing Safari– we had a blast there last year. To make this work to our advantage, the children are are earning this trip by cooperating on a daily basis. Their goal is to spell the word H O L I D A Y by the end of the summer. They earn a letter a week if they’ve made good choices. If we can get to HOLIDAY, we’ll go- probably sometime when school is back in session. Because school starts August 5th. Which is weird. But, I digress.
Visit the Indiana Dunes- we try to make it to the beach at least one day each summer. This year, my baby brother is getting married in Valparasio, so I foresee us driving up 49 to the State Park. I mean, how could we not?
I think these activities and trips, along with camp and you know, our day jobs and trips to the neighborhood pool will definitely fill our days.
What’s on your Summer Fun List?