And So it Begins

Wade snacking

Day 2 (6/22/15)

Today was the first day of Grandpa Daycare Summer Two. That means it is time to get back on the bike trail, dust off the computer and do some blogging. It is hard to believe that it has been eight years since I first decided to ride the bike trail, build cairns/sculptures and write about the whole experience. A lot has happened in those eight years and some things have stayed the same. Probably the biggest change has been the introduction of my little partner Wade. Wade will be turning two at the end of the month so my approach to the bike trail will probably change somewhat. Last year, within ten minutes of hitting the trail, Wade would be fast to sleep and I would be free to build when and where I wanted. There is going to be no sleeping this year. Naps are for babies and Wade is now a full grown toddler. I figure this year will be more about exploring nature through the eyes of a two year old. There was a storm headed our way this morning so we took off as soon as Wade got to the house. The sun was still out but you could see the sky darkening in the west. Soon after getting on the trail I started my first build. Wade seemed perfectly content to sit and watch me with a certain amount of curiosity. His big questions right now are; “What’s that?” and where did Grandma go?” He doesn’t particularly care what the answer is because he is going to ask again in a few minutes anyway but it is how we pass the time between bunnies, birds and builds. After a quick first build we were back on the trail. There were quite a few people out so building was going to be a bit of a problem. When we got to the old prairie build site there was a chance to do some more building. Again Wade watched from his cart and seemed to enjoy Grandpa’s antics. I didn’t spend a lot of time building because as I said there was a storm on the way so we didn’t want to get caught too far from home. Last year I don’t think we missed a day on the trail so the bar is set fairly high for this year. Well, we have one under our belt.

First Build

Bunny

Wild Iris

Wild Rose

Prairie Build