Nana and Papa live by a golf course, which got me interested in trying golf. So Papa took me behind their house to practice swinging a golf club.
Then we went to a driving range where I could hit the ball even harder. Papa showed me how to hold the club and bend my knees, and told me to keep my eye on the ball.
Finally, we went to the putting green to practice tapping the ball into the hole. It was an interesting new experience, but I don’t think I’ll be trying to become a pro golfer any time soon. Thanks for the lesson, Papa!
Summer vacation has started, so I’m visiting Nana & Papa once a week. We went out to lunch and then had ice cream! Papa and I liked goofing off in the Baskin Robbins.
We flew across the country for our annual trip to New Hampshire to visit Grandma and Grandpa!
After some rest from our red eye flight, we visited Grandpa’s HAM radio club and I got to learn a little bit about how it works.
I waded in Eastman Lake while Grandpa and Daddy drove the boat.
And, oh look! I convinced everyone to go to Six Flags New England, where I got four new coaster credits! I also met another coaster enthusiast in line for Thunderbolt, and it was really fun to talk to him.
I went on my first ever coaster tour! It was the best time of my life! We went to five amusement parks (Busch Gardens Tampa, LEGOLand Florida, Fun Spot Kissimmee, SeaWorld Orlando, and Universal’s Islands of Adventure) and I rode eleven new roller coasters!
My favorite park, by far, was LEGOLand. And staying in the hotel is a must. It was so much fun.
Of course, the park was awesome, too! There were lots of fun rides, including my favorite coaster, Flying School. I rode it 10 times! There was also a water park, LEGO creations everywhere, and tons of LEGO to build with.
And here’s Daddy and I just goofing around in front of a mural at our Universal Studios hotel.
Mommy, Aliah, and I went on an epic bug hunting trip to Mary S. Young Park, a huge forested park just a few minutes from our house.
First, we saw flowers! Trillium, to be exact. They are native to the Pacific Northwest and beloved in the Portland area. Don’t pick their flowers!
Then I found my first millipede! It was sooo much bigger than the ones I’d found in our yard.
Aliah found this box for me on the free bench at her apartment building. She knew it had to be for me! And she made the purple handle, too. I put all of my bugs in it to look at up close, then released them.
Looking under logs and inside old stumps were a good place to find bugs.
I found this cool spider with the big abdomen.
We came across a little waterfall.
I called it a water slide and named it Nature Falls. I threw rocks and sticks down it so they could ride it.
We originally planned on crossing this bridge, but found out it was destroyed in last year’s ice storm.
So we continued on. I always had my shovel with me.
And I found a centipede! Another bug much bigger than the ones I’ve found at home.
These are formica ants. We accidentally disturbed their home and they weren’t happy about it.
Then there was this cute little snail…
…and this neat thing that fell out of a tree.
Eventually, we got really close to the Willamette River and the forest turned into sand.
While I was digging, I found a sand wasp! It was very friendly.
And a little bit later, I found this bee. It was friendly, too.
Aliah helped me manage the big rocks as we got closer to the river.
But eventually, I was jumping them on my own.
What a fun, epic day! I found the coolest bugs I’ve ever seen!
