SkyPark Adventures!

Tag: abby

  • Harris Engineering Camp

    The first week of summer was the only week that we didn’t travel somewhere out of town. Instead we had Daddy engineering camp with our friend Abby. The challenge was to create a water craft that could be rowed about 100 yards from a boat put in at Algonkian Park down to a floating dock.

    I had saved cardboard from the warehouse and bought 6 rolls of duct tape. I had no idea how much duct tape one could use in making a cardboard boat. I think I ended up buying around $75 of duct tape.

    We learned about water displacement – in order for the boat to float it must be able to carry as much weight as the boat itself and it’s passengers. A quick eyeball test was to figure out how many gallon jugs would fit inside the boat. A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds, if we could fit more gallon jugs inside the boat then weight of the passengers, then we knew it would float.

    Both boats had plenty of water displacement, but Skylar and Abby’s boat suffered a critical failure when Abby put too much weight on one foot to adjust herself, thereby poking a hole in the side of the raft where the sidewall met the floor. It wasn’t long until they were under water 🙁

    Nevertheless, we had a ton of fun and maybe we learned a little something as well. Parker’s boat on the other hand made it all the way to the dock, and then the rowed it all the way back to the boat launch. Nice job Parky!

  • Memorial Day weekend – Yurt camping

    We went Yurt camping with the Wilkendfelds’ for Memorial Day weekend. The first night we tried and tried to get a fire going to cook dinner and we finally had it when the wind whipped up and it started downpouring rain. We gave up, rallied the kids, and went out for pizza at Vito’s – right across from Uncle Gillette’s boat mooring.

    The rest of the weekend the weather was picture perfect. Saturday we got up and had an awesome breakfast including home fries that Abby and Skylar cooked and home made donuts with cinnamon and sugar.

    Gillette met up with us at the Lake Anna beach and took everyone out for a fun afternoon on the boat. No injuries 🙂 Later that night we had a successful dinner (2 dinners worth of food) of kabobs and london broil with Uncle’s G’s marinade. We played spoons until around 10:30 and got some well-deserved sleep.

    Sunday we packed up and then went for a hike around the lake. On our way out we stopped at the snack shop and it felt like we were back in 1960. I don’t think the prices had ever been updated. Probably not the healthiest food, but I had an entire lunch for $3.00.

  • Easter 2022

    For Easter we got up and opened what the Easter Bunny brought. Chocolates, fishing rod for Parker, hula hoop for Skylar, and some kites which as to date (12/20/2022) have yet to be flown.

    We also had eggs hidden all over the house with all kinds of fun surprises ranging from candy to cold hard cash!

    We spent the afternoon on a picnic at RiverBend Park with the Wilkenfelds (Abby, Rachel, John, and Hillary). Parker and I walked the entire way to the big falls, while Skylar and Abby hung out on the rocks above the falls.

    In the background you can see Parker’s Dungeon and Dragon’s kit that Nana got us and the “Parrots in Paradise” impossible puzzle that we worked on for 9 months and still never finished. We’re taking that one to the beach to see if we put 6-8 people on it for a week if it can be completed!