Core Arboretum Walk

I have driven by the Core Arboretum endless times and have never stopped.  When I went to WVU I even parked at the Coliseum and walked across the street to the Engineering PRT station almost right in front of the Arboretum and never bothered to walk a few more yards to check it out.   

Finally I decided to check it out!!  Yes, I took Bobby and his respite worker with me.  Funny enough, his respite worker is a WVU grad too and had never been before.  So it isn't just me!!

Bobby was more than happy to take a walk.  He found a little classroom set up in the woods, you could see the wheels in his head turning...."how do I get to go to school HERE???"

The problem with walking here at this point in time....too wet.  After all of the rain that we have been having, the ground is very wet and slick.  Bobby didn't want to stay on the big main path, he wanted to go on the smaller, more challenging paths...GO FIGURE!!!

 By the time we made it to the bottom of this hill....well, Bobby did great, he just walked down this hill like it was a flat path.  Cynthia and I were sliding like we were on ice...grabbing trees so that we didn't fall down.  Cynthia:  "How does he walk like that????"  Me:  "I don't know.  He has always been very agile."

 My other problem....I'm still not completely over my bronchitis. So I was coughing like a crazy person at the bottom of the hill.  We got Bobby back on the main path.

 He was more than happy to just run up this hill.  "Bobby...WAIT!!!"

 Yes, sit down and take a break while Mommy stands here and coughs for a little longer.

 We are definitely going back.  However, we are going to let it dry out a bit or get some spikes for Mommy's shoes!!!

Getting Our Exercise

Summer has finally arrived.  The rain has stopped and Bobby has adjusted nicely to his summer school schedule.  We have been doing a good job of working on Bobby's exercise goal now that it is nice enough to be outside.  After dinner in the evenings we have been taking Bobby to the WVU Coliseum to walk laps.  I am super happy to report that he has been doing a great job.  He is walking beside us without holding our hands and isn't running off.  Yesterday I even took him by myself and he stayed right beside me without ANY problems.  Hold on a second, the angels are singing in my ear!!

Due to his awesome success I have been looking for some new places to take Mr. Bobby since he seems up to the challenge.  Yes, a whole new world of getting out and about is opening up to him!!  When his respite worker came this afternoon, we headed off to a new destination...the trails at White Park.  Since we would be going out into the woods I wanted some backup.  

How did he do you ask?  Well, he did AWESOME!!!!!

 There was a bench, so of course, he had to sit down for a minute.  Not sure why the bench was so far off of the ground.

 Off again...

 Time for another break!!  Bobby HAS to look at the water, it is a must!!

 Off again....

 Not sure what his fascination with this one particular tree was, but in a woods full of trees, this one called to him and he had to stop and shake it!!

 Had to stop and look out over the water again when we were returning back to the car...

   I'm so extremely proud of how well he did!!  We are now on the lookout for new places to take Bobby for his daily walks.  Planning to check out more of the local rail trails, Coopers Rock area, Ohiopyle.  If anyone has any suggestions of walking trails, please let me know.