Gilson Pond

Monday was another beautiful day (unlike today - yuck). We went for a picnic at the pond we first visited with Emma almost 2 years ago. We were momentarily upset when we got there and saw this sign, but then we decided to just ignore it and go anyway, and we felt much better. (Everyone else was doing it - the parking lot was full!)



We took the hike through the 'green tunnel'



and when we got to the pond, we laid out the picnic.



Of course lunch can't compete with rock climbing, and looking for creepy crawlies, no one actually ate.



In addition to a giant, dead tadpole, the boys found this sunbathing water snake that Taye chased away. I truly can't think of anything more ick than the idea of a snake coming near me in water. Imagine just swimming along, and there it is - ugh! Anyway...



The mosquitoes were nasty, literally swarming around us. It didn't take too long before we cried uncle and walked back to the car, determined to come back another day with the proper chemical protection. Taye had been talking about building a house with leaves and sticks ever since he picked that giant leaf in the first picture. So Luis and the boys worked on that while I fed Mya in the car.

They're a trio of budding engineers, those three.