Today my family went to The Gabe Park for a picnic.
We stopped to pick up fried chicken (standard picnic food), and since it was still early, the chicken was still frying. So they gave us free cups for the wait, and my mom, Ch1k3n, and I went across the street to an antique shop.
It had a bunch of stuff like old mirrors, old clock faces, doll body parts, typewriters, old hats, pretty much everything you could think of. I think it's one of those places where movie producers go and get old-looking props. You could find anything there. Skandie, I think you would've liked it. I found a cup full of keys, and I found something somewhat close to a skeleton key. It was a more modern kind, though, and for some reason, it had a "Y" button glued to it. So I didn't get it. Then I found a bowl full of old watch faces. There was a small one with silver numbers, and tiny, thin metallic blue hands. It was beautiful, and it had a lot of intricate gears on the back. Then there was one that was just pretty much a circle of gears, with nothing much on the back. That was really cool, too. I wanted one, but they were from Europe, so they were expensive.
Then we went back, got our chicken, and drove on to The Gabe Park. Then I remembered us visiting it last year. It looked really familiar. Then there was someone setting up for a birthday party, and my mom said, "Why would anyone have a birthday party here?" but I guess she kinda forgot that she had MY first birthday party here. Then, when I asked her why she chose this place for my party, she got mad.
Ch1k3n and her wanted a table away fromt he sun, so we finally settled on this Sharpie-graffitied table under a tree.
Then I realized that this park was also where I had two cross-country meets! That's where I knew it from. So it was kinda cool visiting the park again, and not having to run a two-mile race. (Jestar-- this park was the one that was freezing cold, and Orick kept bugging you to give me your jacket.)
When we finished our lunch, Ch1k3n and I went down to explore the river. Except it wasn't really a river. It was very dried up. Like, REALLY dried up. COMPLETELY dried up. So it was the grass, you know, up until this one point where the water used to begin, then it was just a cliff that sprung down six feet. So Ch1k3n and I jumped down and walked until we got to the edge of what water there was left. Then we turned back around, climbed up the cliff, and ran back to the picnic table.
Then Ch1k3n sat down to rest, and my mom and I went to where the spring used to be. There was water across from it, so we fed ducks bread. Eventually, my dad and Ch1k3n came, too, so my dad took pictures while the three of us fed ducks by hand.
After we had fed them more than half a loaf of bread, we went back up to the other side to feed ducks there.
The first thing we saw was a little squirrel running down a tree. So I tossed a piece of bread to it, and it devoured it. It kept eating bread it tossed it, and eventually, it just ran up to me. I held out a piece of bread on my hand, and it came all the way up, brushed his little squirrel cheek against my thumb, tickled my finger with his whiskers, and snatched the bread away. Then, while he was busy eating, I got a bigger piece. This one he came up, took it away, and slowly worked on eating it all. It was so cute- he picked it up with both hands and nibbled on it, just like in pictures! Then he came back for more, so I held another piece out. He came right up to me again, sniffed me, rubbed his face on my hand, and then BIT me! Then he took the bread and ate it. This repeated (without the biting, thankfully,) until my piece of bread was gone. Yeah, I hand-fed a squirrel! My dreams have come true! Kinda. Almost. Just a little closer!
