Last day at the cabins.

I think the very best thing about this vacation has been Ally's independence. She (and we) feel comfortable and safe enough here that she can take the dog out and walk her 100 yards away. At the lake Ally will run from the sand detach to the clay area without asking us every single time. She told us she will miss this. She's said she wishes we had a larger yard for her to walk Cloey in. I've agreed to let her take Cloey out by herself at home. Not out of our yard but just in the yard. 

Ally told Becky "I bet Cloey will miss this wonderful magical place and wonder when we will come back." We have to agree it has been a wonderful magical week. 

Yesterday I got brave and coerced Becky into a family canoe ride, with the dog. 3 of us loved it. The pilot in the back, not so much.

Look close and you can see Cloey laying down in front of Ally.

A quick dip in the lake. 

Ally didn't have her water shoes and the water was freezing. She didn't last long.

We spent the morning and early afternoon at the lake and then at 3pm headed out to a local science museum. It was really neat. We went especially to see the "Sue the T-Rex" exhibit on loan from the Field Museum. 

Sue is the most complete T Rex ever found.

This special exhibit had all kinds of information about the T-Rex dinosaurs. It was a big hit with us of course. 

Sue has 58 teeth and some are as big as Ally's arm!

Ally and I tried out the contraption that let you feel like a TRex arm. 

Then we explored outside a little bit. There is an amazing water play and exploration area, neat musical features and a giant bubble place.

Playing the musical fence!

The giant Xylophone.

 

Becky and Ally had just finished a book featuring Leonardo Da'Vinci so they were very excited to see the water statue with a poem by DaVinci engraved on it.

Ally mastered the really big bubble maker. 

Then there was an announcement that upstairs was a fossil presentation. Ally was thrilled about that.

It was a very interesting hands on presentation about fossils. Ally stayed for the whole 30 minutes. Above is her hand in a dinosaur foot print. All of the fossils came from New England which I thought was great. We even saw a woolly mammoth tooth fossil. It was twice as big as Ally's head! 

After a few minutes I realized Becky was not with us. 

 She was doing puzzles at the next exhibit! I guess once an engineer always an engineer!

We all had a great time. 

The museum closed at 5 and the. We went out to dinner and ice cream afterwards.

Then back to the cabin. Becky and Ally made a fire together. Ally was so proud to help. Later I even let her put some wood on all by herself. 

It was a clear night and Ally really wanted to stay up and look at the stars again. She passed the time waiting for darkness by reading. She is so into her current boom she offered to read aloud to Becky so Becky would know the story too. I was in the bedroom and it was a joy to listen.

Our last morning I packed up the car and Becky and Ally fished one last time. They also saw the turtle!

It was a fabulous vacation!