Colvin Run Mill

The kids were out of school for yet another holiday. Since we are currently unaffiliated with any place of prayer, I had to come up with another meaningful plan.

I collect hotel soaps etc at the office for a homeless shelter so I had brought that home. I sorted, counted and packed them up. I picked up 2 cases of Raman noodles on my way home the night before. I packed the kids each a cheese sandwich and a juice box along with a picnic blanket. I had 1/2 a loaf of homemade bread in the freezer which I defrosted and packed. I got the kids dressed and loaded everything into the van. We drove to the shelter and the kids helped me take in the 5 boxes which were very warmly received.

Then we were off to Colvin Run Mill Park (a Fairfax County park). The park has a running stream which usually has a few ducks. We walked past the working mill wheel, a gaggle of geese, and stood on the bridge to toss bread crumbs into the stream. The tradition is to go to a body of running water and cast out the crumbs (bad words, thoughts and deeds) from the year before. I told the kids to try to think of what they did right and wrong last year and think about how to do better next year. I tried but the interest was more on the 5 mallard ducks who swam over and the small fish which were enjoying the bread. We then walked to the picnic area of the park overlooking a different section of the stream where the kids had their picnic. We went to the store where I let each of the kids get 1 geo to break open latter.