Sunday Funday!

This past Sunday was such a beautiful day, that we just had to get out of the house!  Nate's coworkers had been telling him about Jones Point Park, a park right under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (I-495/"the beltway" runs across it).  I was a bit skeptical about what we'd find under the bridge of one of the most highly utilized interstates in the country, but hey, no hurt in checking it out.  If it did end up being a great park, then it would be yet another one in our growing repertoire of outdoor play spots. 

The view of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from the playground at Jones Point Park.

But before we could head out to Jones Point Park, we had to get the girls out of their Sunday clothes and into play clothes.  The girls had other plans.  Like sucking their dad into letting them walk/jog on the treadmill.  That's right folks, my girls' have fun by having some treadmill time! What a GREAT example Nate is to Lauren and Olivia, with his ever-constant working out.  As for mommy, well, ah,...she needs to work on it...work out that is! ;0P

So we finally talked Lauren into putting on some clothes, but only after we whispered sweet nothings about a new park with "big kid" swings.  We had her at swings.

 

So look what we found at Jones Point Park?!  With a backdrop as lush and green as this, you would've never guessed we were about 100 yards away/below the Woodrow Wilson bridge.  To make it even better, there was no noise pollution.  No constant indicator that we were so close to a major thoroughfare.  Brilliant idea City of Alexandria, or whomever is responsible for this park--sheer brilliance!  Quite apparently Olivia thinks it's a great find too!

What a happy little shark-rider!

While at the playground part of the park, we talked to another parent that began to tell us all about Jones Point Park.  There are multiple full-length basketball courts directly under the bridge (and a good game taking place while we were there), multiple cement slabs for kids to ride bikes/scooters/skate boards on, a historic lighthouse complete with history of this area, and lastly, the fishing pier and ever popular banks of the Potomac River.  Again, what a find this place is!

So after Lauren and Olivia played their little hearts out, we grabbed the stroller and took a little walk over to the historic lighthouse.  Between the playground and the lighthouse was some crazy lush vegetation, and a ton of animal life.

Lauren was pretty pumped about the change of scenery, so she ran ahead, quite a ways...

Lauren was super stoked about the lighthouse.  Well, the water pump at the lighthouse anyway.  She kept holding on to the handle and posing for me. 

Nate had to lure her down with questions of the unknown, "What's over here Lauren?!  Should we go check it out?"

Lauren: "Yeah daddy! We go!"

Lauren's attempt to get the wind-swept Pocahontas look.  That's our favorite movie this week BTW.

So we all took off towards the fishing pier, in hopes to catch a glimpse of someone reeling one in.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see the excitement and the fight of the catch, which was surprising with the sheer number of fishermen that were there.  But we did get to see the catch-of-the-day for a man that was getting ready to relocate to another fishing area.  He really did have some nice size fish, one in particular; however, I'm not going to estimate it's weight because I learned early in my childhood I really am not good at it.  Tough to admit, but I tend to always grossly overestimate.  Guess it's a good thing I'm not a carnival worker, manning the weight guessing booth.  I'd probably acquire a lot of black-eyes from offended patrons! ;0P  So I'll just say that his largest fish was approximately the same size as Nate's forearm.

I was impressed.  Lauren was slightly appalled.  Olivia was pretty indifferent.  And Nate quietly stated while walking away, "There's no way I'd eat anything caught out of the Potomac!"  His colleagues, local men for 50+ years, apparently say the same thing.  I guess with them all being engineers for a base that sits directly on the Potomac River banks, they probably know what they are talking about.  Like what ends up in the Potomac River water that they wouldn't want to consume!  Oh well, I'm still going to try and lure my dad out for a visit with promises of fishing.  Catch and release anyone???