A Day Salvaged

Yesterday did not start so well.  I got a call from my biggest boy at 7:45 while I was still at work...  "Mom, I don't feel good.  My head is stuffy, my nose is running and my eyes are itching.  I just wanted to tell you".  By the time I got home he looked like Rocky Balboa, eyes red and almost swollen shut.  No doubt about it, my boy has inherited his dad's nasty allergies.  I doped him up on Alavert, and the kid actually took a nap, which he never does.  We stayed housebound until 5:00, when he felt better and we were all a little stir crazy.

The kids and I decided that this summer, we want to become tourists in our own city.  We've lived in Salem for 6 1/2 years now and there are plenty of places we have yet to discover.  Last night we set out to check out a few.  We started at the Mirror Pond next to City Hall.  The kids were fascinated with the water skippers and tadpoles, and spent most of our time there bent over the water's edge:

 I give up on this girl.  She finally looks at the camera for a picture and this is the face she gives me.

 From the pond we followed the path under the bridge along the water.  It was amazing that this kind of beauty exists right in downtown, sandwiched between City Hall and a slew of restaurants.

 Prime spot for some pictures

 I. Give. Up.

 After we left downtown, we headed out to check out Minto Brown park.  Of course within about 60 seconds of what should have been our arrival, Leah had to pee RIGHT NOW so we took a pit stop at Jen's before heading onto our destination.  The kids thought it was so cool that there were signs posted about a cougar sighting, and we scoped out a lot of good trails and play areas to go back to with bikes and toys.

Last on our stop - the Union Street Bridge.  We've lived in West Salem for 2 1/2 years and have never taken it across the river.  We wandered across the bridge and then down along the water front, stopping at a closed Gilbert House to sit in the big chair.

 Jake was starting to feel not so great by this point, as you can tell...

All in all, we were gone less than 3 hours, but it was such an enjoyable evening and we were all glad to have salvaged what otherwise would have been a lousy day.