BLOGSTRAVEGANZA III!

Belatedly we come to the third instalment of our trip to Missouri. Back off the river, I think we spent the next week mainly on the Charleston farm, and were visited by various cousins. And Emily had a slightly early birthday party, which was great fun. Let's see what the photos remind me that we also did,

Ilona successfully blows bubbles

This tractor was Emily's present for her 4th(?) birthday. Still going strong

Bluet decided she wanted a cowgirl hat, so we got her one from boomland

As you can see, the weather was hot and sweaty

Meanwhile, the thing that Ilona wanted most in the world was a backpack, so Nana bought her one, and sewed on velcro so she could fasten it in front, just like Bluet's backpack

We went out for dinner for Sarah's birthday. In a nice local restaurant

Then the cousins from Missouri (Nate and Lila) arrived

Ilona has a new role model

Early morning helping Nate build a playmobil campsite

Meanwhile, Bluet also really really wanted to climb a tree

Learning to ride a trike

Wayne built an adventure playground from an old tree

This is how you hold a cat

Sometimes we played inside with play-doh

Oh, and I took Bluet to see the Minions movie, which she enjoyed, mainly the bits when the minions fall down or do something similarly slapstick.

Bluet's Commute

Now Bluet goes to kindergarten, she has to learn the route to walk, because here after a while kids walk to school by themselves. Fortunately it is not very far - 5 minutes for an unaccompanied adult, or 10 minutes for an adult with a slowly moving kid. This is the way we go.

This being Zurich, there is of course an enormous hill to go up before you get there. At this point Bluet inexplicably decides she needs to push Ilona. This does not last long.

Running up the school steps with excitement

And then when we get there the doors are not yet open, which is why Bluet looks sad

BLOGSTRAVEGANZA II

In our second week in Missouri, we took two canoe trips. Camping was something that Bluet had been talking a lot about, and was excited for, so this was a good idea.

Bluet with her paddle, which she was very excited to have

The first trip, with Kara and her family, on the Jacks Fork. We saw two cottonmouth snakes swimming while we were on this trip, but from a distance and they were not very interested in us. (Bluet yesterday mentioned the snake bite, and then told me that she liked snakes).

On this first trip Bluet rode in my canoe a little, before moving to Nana's canoe. Meanwhile Ilona mostly rode in Emily's canoe, often leaning over the side with her hands in the water - she did very well with being confined to the boat, although she didn't always keep her sun hat on, and occasionally would grab the paddle or lean over the side of the boat at the wrong time, making it difficult to manoeuvre. However, that is probably just what you would expect from a 20 month old.

We saw some pretty amazing caves (which Bluet illuminated with a torch; at night the torch would be used to have some kind of disco party in the tent when she and Ilona were supposed to be going to sleep). It was very very hot, so we stopped many times to jump in the water and swim to cool down.

Bluet also became interested in fishing, wanting to touch all the fish that were caught. In fact later in the holiday she got a disney princess fishing rod (or fishing rob, as she calls it) and even caught and reeled in her first fish in a creek on the Brunot farm - a small big mouth bass).

And then after two nights on the river we went to the Brunot cabin before embarking on our second canoe trip. And saw the cows, which Ilona has learned to imitate more accurately than just saying 'moo'

After two nights in real beds we were back on the river........

By the end of these trips, Bluet became pretty fearless in the water (at least when she was wearing her water wings/life jacket combo), happy to float along. On the second trip (on the North Fork) were plenty of other kids (including all her American cousins) so she was able to copy the bigger kids, and was very happy. I don't have many pictures, but I can tell you that it was a bit less hot than the first trip, I found some very cool fossils, and slightly injured my leg* on a rock hidden underwater whilst helping Bluet float down the river.

*I was still able to paddle the canoe and stay on the river for the next 2 days.

 
As you can see, Bluet even learned to swim a little, aided no doubt by several trips to a swimming pool in someone's garden in Charleston, where she even got to jump off a diving board by herself. So there you have it, almost an entire week spent in the wilderness, enjoying the pleasures of Ozark rivers. A fun time was had by all, I think I can safely say. More photos from our trip coming soon.