The best park ever!!

We've been talking about going to Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury for awhile now, and this weekend we finally went! It was about a 50 minute drive...but SOOO worth it! It was the most amazing park I'd ever seen - and it was free to get in (just small fees for the activities)! It was super clean with tons of picnic areas (for large or small groups), a huge playground (I mean, like 10 times bigger than anything I'd ever seen - and stuff for all age groups!), 2 putt putt courses, and then you go through the woods and get to all the really cool stuff. In the middle there was a carousel, a train that rides through the woods, and a splash pad (fountains to play in). Then you can go off in every direction and do something different. One way led you to the lake where you can fish and ride paddle boats (we didn't do this this time). Another way was the Wildlife Adventure, which we did. There were bears, wolves, all kinds of birds (even a bald eagle), a deer, a bobcat, and other small animals. Drew really liked the Turtle Bay with all the turtles swimming around. Then in another direction there was a big barn with farm animals that you can pet - goats, a pig, a sheep, a donkey and a small cow. Drew reached in and pet the big goat!

First, we rode the train. Here's Drew looking around at everything during the ride - he was very serious on the train.

Then we went to the Wildlife Adventure section. There were two huge bears. One was hanging out in the middle and the other was banging on the wooden door - I'm guessing his food was stored on the othe side! Drew liked looking at them, but he wanted to tell us about the rocks and water in their home.

There were several wolves - I didn't realize wolves were so scrawny!

The bobcat seemed nervous - he was pacing back and forth in front of us. You can kind of see him in this picture. Drew was looking at him and saying "meow!"


Here's a better picture of the bobcat.

And here's the bald eagle.

The Wildlife area had a playground with equipment the perfect size for Drew - he could do the stairs and slides all on his own...and then he'd clap for himself! And here he is, clearly thinking, "This looks dumb, put me down!"

...then my camera batteries died. But we went to the petting zoo, played in the fountains for a few minutes and ate our packed dinner before heading out. We did all that for a grand total of...$7.50!! For the whole family!! We will definitely be coming back here!

Then today, we hung out at home and played outside some. It was hot, so Drew did some swimming - Stewart style! Here he is making waves.

And then playing some baseball in the pool.