Starved Rock

This past weekend we took our second family camping trip, this time to Starved Rock State Park, which is a little less than 2 hours west of Chicago.  We all enjoyed it, but I'm nearly certain that Jesse had the most fun of all of us.  He seemed to have some recollection of the tent from last time, and with his current fascination with all things nature (rocks, sticks, bushes, leaves, berries, etc.), the camping experience was heaven for him.

We arrived at the campsite early Friday afternoon, and just like last time, Jesse made a beeline for the woods.  This time he had a much better understanding that he was not allowed to go into the woods and that he needed to stay at the campsite (last time it was quite a chore keeping him at the site).  While James set up our tent, Jesse occupied himself by picking leaves (against park policy, I know, but I'm pretty sure no one will be able to tell that a few leaves are missing) and making piles of rocks, leaves and acorns.

At one point we turned around and Jesse had gotten himself on top of the car like this.  Just kidding.  James put him there and was standing right beside him.

We realized on the second day that we had quite a bit of poison ivy near our campsite, so Jesse was no longer allowed to play in the trees and bushes.  He occupied himself with rock collecting instead.

He also had his first s'more.  He mainly just liked the chocolate.

On Saturday morning we got up and did some hiking along the Illinois River and into some canyons along the river.  This is not the type of scenery I associate with Illinois.  I mostly think of flat cornfields.  This park was beautiful, though, and reminded me a lot of Arkansas.  We will have to return in the winter when the snow creates ice falls in the canyons (or in the spring when there are waterfalls from all the snow melt).  Unfortunately there were no waterfalls in the canyons on this trip, due to the lack of rain we've had.

On Saturday afternoon we just hung out around the campsite.  James got some wood ready to make a fire, and Jesse "helped" by making piles of sticks.

Jesse also did some looking at the trail map to figure out which trails we should hike on Sunday morning.

Of course, a "good book" (that's what Jesse calls every book) is an essential part of every camp-out.  Especially books about squirrels.

The only downside to our camping trip was the cold temperatures at night and in the mornings.  Jesse seemed to stay plenty warm in his fleece sleeper and under several blankets in the pack 'n play, but of course he wanted out of bed between 6 and 7 each morning and once he was out of bed he was miserable because it was so cold (we were not thinking and did not pack heavy coats for any of us).  We would have been happy to stay in our warm sleeping bags a little longer, but Jesse was ready to get out of the tent and start exploring.  To warm up, we turned on the car and listened to some music.  Jesse told me he was driving us to Arkansas.

Apple Orchard

On Saturday we made our 2nd-annual trip to the County Line Apple Orchard.  When we went last October, Jesse was sick and not really old enough to be very interested in apple picking, but this year he had a blast.  He loved riding the tractor and picking apples off of the ground and from the gutters.  Unfortunately it didn't feel like a truly authentic apple-picking experience, because all the apples had already been picked and placed in gutters on the trees (we were told that this had to do with the drought and the fact that there weren't as many apples this year).  Jesse didn't know the difference, though, and he had just as much fun grabbing them from the gutters.

Jesse was so proud of all the apples he picked.

He came running to us with them and loved getting to place them in the bag.

He really loved getting to reach into the gutters by himself.  Most of the gutters were too high, though.

As you can see, Jesse chose a few rotten apples from the ground and we had to explain that these could not be put in the bag.

Jesse thought the tractor ride was pretty cool, but he was ready to get down and run around after a few minutes.

This picture is from last year in the same spot on the tractor.  Jesse has changed so much!

Jesse vs. the Squirrel

A little more than a week ago, Jesse developed a love for the squirrel on our playground.  He especially loved chasing this squirrel around.  Even though he was managing to get pretty close to it, it never even crossed my mind that he would actually be able to touch it.  Squirrels are pretty fast creatures, right?  Being the wonderful mom that I am (note the sarcasm here), I didn't discourage him from chasing it, and I might have even encouraged him slightly.

One evening after dinner, James took Jesse out to the playground and of course, Jesse began chasing the squirrel again.  I had told James earlier about Jesse's new-found love, and so James was also not concerned about it (he just assumed I actually knew what I was talking about and that there was no problem with Jesse chasing squirrels).  Well, Jesse found the squirrel busily digging a hole under some playground equipment and took this as an opportunity to run up to him and grab his tail.  Yes, he actually managed to catch him by the tail.  As you can imagine, the squirrel was not so happy about this.  According to James (so glad I didn't have to witness this), the squirrel turned around and lunged onto Jesse, which left several scratches on his arms and legs.  Needless to say, Jesse was pretty upset.  Now that Jesse hasn't contracted rabies or any other terrible disease, I feel like I can look back and see the humor in this.  How many one-year-olds catch a squirrel by the tail?

Now you might think that Jesse has a terrible fear of these creatures.  I certainly would.  But no, Jesse still loves squirrels and frequently talks about chasing them.  Here is a short conversation between me and Jesse about them.