More Bead Creations...

As I have blogged previously, Riaan loves making bead creations. He's lately turned his attention to superheroes and has made Spiderman, Batman, Black Panther, and Iron Man - along with a few other pretty cute creations. He sits for hours working on these, and is so patient and detail-oriented! (I wonder where he gets that from?!) He is still making some extra pocket money by selling these to friends and family! :)

Super cute watermelon.

Lizard that looks like how you would see rain and storms on a weather radar!

Iron Man!

Spiderman!

Black Panther!

Charlestown and Falls of the Ohio State Parks...

We went to two state parks on Saturday, 12th June. We hadn't been to Charlestown State Park and Falls of the Ohio State Park since 2017, and so it was lovely to get back again! Charlestown State Park was our first visit and it is the site of Rose Island, on the banks of the Ohio River, where an amusement park once stood in the 1920-30s. It was destroyed by the Great Flood of 1937, and now only ruins are visible as nature slowly reclaims the land.

We enjoyed an early picnic lunch - seen here - and, unbeknownst to us, the park had organised a raptor event during the early afternoon. The kiddos loved doing various crafts, including dissecting an owl pellet to rebuild the skeleton of its food, and we also saw four different owl species - a screech owl, barred owl, barn owl, and a great horned owl. They're fantastic creatures!

We then hiked down the steep road to Rose Island and crossed the old Portersville Bridge. We saw a large black rat snake slither across the road just in front of us, and the children then had a wonderful time exploring the ruins and imagining how life was here about a century ago!

From there we drove back west towards Falls of the Ohio State Park. This state park is located on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, just across from Louisville, Kentucky. It is famous for its fossil beds and bird-watching, too. We didn't see many birds (apart from a cormorant), but we did see lots of fossils and Riaan was especially excited to be able to see all these ancient sea creatures trapped in stone. Unfortunately, we couldn't walk too far out, since the river was running quite high, but the kids still loved it! 

After a long day out and about, we grabbed ice-cream from the Widow's Walk - pictured here - and then drove back via Jasper, where we picked up some supper, and arrived home as the sun was setting. We love exploring and making memories together! :)

Dissecting owl pellets.

The naturalist shows us a screech owl.

Barred owl.

Barn owl.

Great horned owl.

Black rat snake as we walked to Rose Island.

It is a steep downhill - and uphill coming back!

Note the 1937 flood mark well above Riaan!

River barge on the Ohio.

This photo is from 2017. We found the same tree in 2022.

Eliza at the same spot now...

And all of our kiddos - including an upset Anya.

The entrance to Rose Island in the 1920s.

The same place today.

The view towards the Walkway of Roses.

Similar view today. The hotel (which would have stood behind me) is long gone.

The pool survived the flood but has now been filled in with gravel.

Old water fountain.

Mammoth skeleton at Falls of the Ohio visitor centre.

View down to some of the fossil beds and a high Ohio River.

Fossils!

Our budding paleontologist.

Teepee on the sandy shore near the river.

Inquisitive groundhog.

View of Louisville, Kentucky, from the Indiana side of the river.

Platinum Jubilee Celebrations...

Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee (70 years on the throne) over the first weekend in June. Our good friends the Maleys are half-British and half-American, and so we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee at their house on Sunday, 5th June. (South Africa, having once been a British colony, is also part of the Commonwealth and my ties to the UK are quite strong.) We enjoyed a lovely spread of English treats and cups of tea, along with games, face-painting, a magic show, and an evening bonfire. It was a fantastic night!

The Union Jack hangs proudly in Washington, Indiana!

Schedule of events and photos of the Queen and the Royal Family.

Amazing cake decorated like the Union Jack.

Fantastic eats!

Enjoying fellowship outside.

Riaan plays one of the games.

Sweet Anya had lots of fun in the paddling pool.

The magic show!

Face-painting!

Sweet Eliza's Union Jack.

Bonfire time!

It was a great time spent celebrating Queen Elizabeth II!

Silly Safaris...

We attended a Silly Safaris programme up at the Library in Odon earlier this month. Silly Safaris comes and does presentations on animals and different wildlife for area children. They had an American alligator, a Eurasian eagle owl, a red-footed tortoise, a bunny rabbit, marine toad, hermit crab and a Burmese python. It was a really interesting display and the kids loved it!

American alligator.

Red-footed tortoise.

Eurasian eagle owl.