Saturday, February 9, 2008

Monsanto

I've been wanting to take the kids to Monsanto for quite some time. I heard that the area had great bike paths and a park for children. So, today, without looking for maps on the internet, we plugged Monsanto into our GPS and headed out.

It took a little while to find the parks of Monsanto, as the parks, specifically, were not in our GPS. Just the town of Monsanto. We started out late and arrived around lunch time. Lila, our more timid child, has been having anxiety attacks when placed in the Chariot bike trailer. Today was no exception. As we biked around looking for the start of the trail, she screamed as if someone was torturing her. At first, we lovingly tried to sooth her. We took her out, gave her hugs and kisses, assured her it was okay, and put her back in. When the crying started up again, we tried our best to ignore it. However, we didn't have a map, had no idea where to find the right trail and couldn't take the crying any longer. The distant sounds of laughing children at the play park convinced us to change our plans and scope out the trails at a later date, when we are more prepared.
Entrace to the children's play park in Monsanto was free and Olivia could run around freely! We found a gem of a park. Water fountains, swings, slides, climbing ropes, bridges, picnic areas, scenic overlooks, a bouncy area/gym and a restaurant.
We enjoyed a late lunch of delicious Portuguese cusine. I enjoyed a stew that is much like a boiled dinner Americans make around St. Patty's Day. However, this was made with cabbage, potato, kidney beans, carrots, pork, chicken and different types of sausage. It was the first time I had the pleasure of tasting this dish. I'll add it, for sure, to my list of favorite Portuguese dishes.
The girls, exhausted, took naps on the ride home. What started out as a stressful, unprepared adventure, turned into a successful outing with a new "hot spot" in which to take our children.

3 comments:

The Dunns said...

Wow! That sounds like so much fun! Wish they would make something like that in Fairbanks. I guess we have Pioneer Park -- not quite the same and I can't bike there from here -- but it's fun when the weather is nice. I can't wait to get Daniel riding his own bike this spring!

Anonymous said...

Just like teaching, parenting is a flexible occupation. Your "go with the flow" attitude is the best!

Anderson Family said...

You guys look so good. Matt and you look great and the girls are getting so big. It sounds like you guys are really enjoying the country around you.
Danny and Mara moved to Benning and then to Bragg. We just bought a new house in Raeford, NC and I love it. I'm still in Iraq (but home on R&R right now). Mara has been staying with Danny's parents in Texas while he starts SF training. I can't wait to get home and then get out of the Army so I can stay home and play catch up with Mara. She is getting so big. I will have to go back to Alaska for a few months before I finally get to move down to NC but I hope to make it by next Christmas.
Tell Matt that Danny says hi.