Graue Mill and Museum

We've been coming to the Graue Mill and Museum since before the kids turned 2. I remember the first time we came, and how excited the kids were to simply throw rocks into the water. Is that just a built-in, intuitve need for all kids to throw rocks?  They weren't even as excited to feed the ducks as I thought they'd be.

So, I was a little disappointed that this was the first time, and probably only time, this year that we have made our way down here, even though it's only a ten minute drive from our house. We had brought bread to feed the ducks, but we couldn't find them in the river near where we had parked. So, we decided to walk down the bridge and around the Mill to see if we could spot some ducks on the other side. We came to the small waterfall, and the kids sat with Steve for a little bit to look at the water.

Then we decided to walk along the trail a little ways to see if we could find the ducks further down the river.

Lately, the kids haven't been the greatest when we go hiking. At Kelly's Island, there was only one hike where they actually hiked most of the time. So, I was shocked when they took off running down the trail and ran all the way to the nature center, which was probably at least a half to three-quarters of a mile down the trail. Steve ran to catch up with them, while I tried to walk fast to keep up.

In the nature center there is a huge pretend tree nest the kids can climb up into. They have a bunch of animal puppets.

There was an area where the kids could make animal tracks. You'd press this wooden square with tracks gouged into one side into what I think was silly putty. There were little cards that showed the animal track and the animal that had made it, so the kids could match the prints they made with the corresponding animal card.

Jared, of course, gravitated towards the puzzles. There was a twenty-four piece bug puzzle that Steve and Jared quickly put together before the center closed and we had to leave.

My favorite picture of the day was taken by Alexa, of course! Now we always have someone who will take good pictures of Steve and me while we are out.