WW: Paddle Boats {Linky}

Every time I go to Mahoney State Park I want to go horseback riding. Travis says, "I don't see your obsession about horseback riding. It's not that fun." I reply back with, "Every kid needs to try it. I thought it was fun as a kid." Every year he wins. Not because he's right, it's either too hot for the horses to be out, or they don't have a time slot open that will work for us. 

We decided to go paddle boating instead. Someday we'll go horseback riding. 

We got there before the ticket stand was open. In the mean time we looked at geese.

Geese were all over! Isaak was trying to charm them in his direction. I'm not so sure it worked. He didn't have any food for them. 

We did get pretty close to them! 

The geese decided to leave Isaak behind.

We waited, and waited for them to open their doors...

Mica with his creepy grin:

A little better:

Isaak looking natural:

After a bit it was time to get tickets. Is it just me, or does anyone else get highly annoyed when people just get someplace, and run to the door? We waited a good 40 minutes. I wanted to yell out, "Stand back!" I've been watching way too much Curb Your Enthusiasm, and pulled a Larry David. I stood in line, and talked to my kids about how rude it is to cut in front of people. It was probably rude for me to complain, but dang it, didn't they learn not to cut in line in Kindergarten? 

Paddle Boating we went:

I was only at the angle to get shots of Isaak, and the water. Mica hates photos of himself right now anyhow.

We got food to feed the fish geese. The geese liked us a whole lot when we had food!

I thought it was fun. Travis on the other hand said, "I'm never getting in a boat with those two again!" Mica would flat out stop steering, or pedal backwards just to piss Isaak off. Isaak steered us into the side, where we couldn't get out. Ha! I just sat there and giggled, while Travis looked a bit like his head was going to pop off he was was so annoyed.

The side looked like nature glitter:

Now we can say we've been paddle boating. 

Have you been paddle boating? Did you get steering into the wrong direction? 

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I got no compensation, for writing this post. All opinions are my own. 

WW: Nature Hike {Linky}

We had fun hiking at Mahoney State Park. I like to go on hikes. There's always something fascinating to look at. No matter where you go, there's some place to hike. Usually it's free. 

I love this tree. It had so much character! It looks like Spanish Moss attached to it, but that's not Spanish Moss. I'm not sure what it is.

Leaves can be interesting, or not. These ones are! I love the bite patterns in the first one and lines in the second one.

Nature"s natural curls are cute!

Sometimes there's a mix of lively, and dead:

I saw many types of mushrooms, and nature's shelves:

I like flowers, but unusual ones. Sometimes I like them up close more than far away.

Do you like to go hiking?

What's a tiny creature in nature that you like?

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I got no compensation, for writing this post. All opinions are my own. 

WW: Snails {Linky}

We went to Eugene T. Mahoney State Park for our yearly Family Reunion on my Mom's side. Sadly attendance is less and less every year. Happily my Grandpa (age 93) has 2 brothers still alive. If not very many people show up, at least those 3 have a chance to get together!

We went for a hike before having lunch. What the boys found to be the most exciting were the snails they found.

I have to admit that they are pretty cute when they come out of their shell. Just not all the way out - like slugs.

Mica called his Turbo, off the movie.

Isaak tried to grab as many as he could, and longed to keep them. We said, "Sorry put them back in nature."

What's a tiny creature in nature that you like?

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I got no compensation, for writing this post. All opinions are my own. 

Nebraskaland

We went to a state park Eugene T. Mahoney State Park for our family reunion. It's an awesome state park. If you are ever in Nebraska I strongly suggest that you go there. To me it's one of the main attractions next to our world famous zoo. 

First off it's $5 to get into the park. That's an all day pass. Different things in the park will cost money as well. It's not super expensive though. 

Summer Events:

• Horse Back Riding (weather permitting)
• Mini Golf
• Paddle Boats 
• Water Slides, and Swimming Area

All Year Around Events:

• Walter Scott Observation Tower (Free)
• Crafts (Some are Free)
• Indoor Play Area (Gigantic!)
• Trails (Free)
• Camping (Book in Advance)
• Brunch in the Peter Kiewit Lodge 
• Movies

Winter Events:

• Toboggan Run 

Our Safari Zoo is right near there, as well as a few other fun places.

This time around we didn't do a whole lot. Mica was sick from eating too much the day before. It was hot, so we couldn't ride the horses.

I still took photos of our hike, and our hike up the tower.

A few random photos from our hike:

This is the view of the Platte River from the Walter Scott Observation Tower:

This is the view from the tower of my kids observing a bug on the ground:

Off the interstate we decided to stop off to see a shrine called Holy Family Shrine. I've seen it many times before, but never got to see it up close until this weekend. I love interesting buildings!

All around is native Nebraska grasses and flowers. 

I wanted to hike more, but that's about the time that Isaak lost it. He was thirsty, and tired all at once. We did a lot of walking that we did in that heat.

Noelle from Jumpin Beans thought I had corn all around me. I had to laugh because I really only see corn when I'm traveling a few times a year. I live in the city, so no corn. Some years we grow it in our backyard. There certainly isn't corn all around though. 

This is how close we get to corn and cows:

Isaak said, "Hey there's a bunch of horses!" They were cows. I had a chuckle over that one. Yes most of Nebraska is corn and cows. Omaha is a city. 

Here's my once, or twice a year view of corn (photo below). I would have taken a photo of the horses cows, except for the fact that there was a guy driving behind us on a gravel road. Omaha doesn't have very many gravel roads either. 

The majority of Nebraska is for sure a corn, cow and grass state. It has pretty flat land. Much of the time you can see for miles and miles in the country. We have 4 true seasons here. What is it like where you live?