The Other Garden State
The boys have been excited all weekend about Monday "the vacation day" and the trip we were going to take. And if you thought we were evil for building up the trip in their minds and then taking them to a rhododendron garden, we couldn't blame you. What fun could kids possibly have at a rhododendron garden? Assuming they behave themselves, of course.
Well, the waterfall right after the entrance was a good start (click any picture if you want the full-size version):
And the stones in front of it arranged so kids could step across the stream were a fantastic idea. I helped Daniel across the first time just to make sure he didn't get wet 5 minutes after we arrived, but after this he and Joshua went across several more times by themselves:
Our kids really like waterfalls:
And park benches. I don't know why. Fortunately both waterfalls and benches are easy to find in gardens.
We got this picture of Lucas to prove he was enjoying himself:
And while we were taking that picture of Lucas, Daniel took off. Again.
A family that was leaving gave us half a bag of duck food, which we discovered was good squirrel food too. The boys noticed some ducklings ("Look! Fuzzy ducks!") in one of the ponds, and some goslings as well. I warned the boys that goslings were bad news, since geese are never good-tempered and a goose with young would be that much more aggressive; sure enough, there was one on the path with her young, blocking a bunch of people from following the path. We turned around and went a different way. On our alternate path, we got to see a raccoon close up:
I almost got away with writing a blog post about a visit to a rhododendron garden without including any pictures of rhododendrons, but this one was too cute to leave out:
Lucas liked grabbing and feeling the flowers. They were colorful and soft, and the flowers on this plant were large. As we were leaving, someone very generously offered to get a whole family picture:
So Daniel and Joshua had a great time, and even walked the entire time without asking to be held, carried, or pushed in the stroller. I'm glad Leslie came up with the idea to visit this place on such a bright, sunny, warm day.
Well, the waterfall right after the entrance was a good start (click any picture if you want the full-size version):
And the stones in front of it arranged so kids could step across the stream were a fantastic idea. I helped Daniel across the first time just to make sure he didn't get wet 5 minutes after we arrived, but after this he and Joshua went across several more times by themselves:
Our kids really like waterfalls:
And park benches. I don't know why. Fortunately both waterfalls and benches are easy to find in gardens.
We got this picture of Lucas to prove he was enjoying himself:
And while we were taking that picture of Lucas, Daniel took off. Again.
A family that was leaving gave us half a bag of duck food, which we discovered was good squirrel food too. The boys noticed some ducklings ("Look! Fuzzy ducks!") in one of the ponds, and some goslings as well. I warned the boys that goslings were bad news, since geese are never good-tempered and a goose with young would be that much more aggressive; sure enough, there was one on the path with her young, blocking a bunch of people from following the path. We turned around and went a different way. On our alternate path, we got to see a raccoon close up:
I almost got away with writing a blog post about a visit to a rhododendron garden without including any pictures of rhododendrons, but this one was too cute to leave out:
Lucas liked grabbing and feeling the flowers. They were colorful and soft, and the flowers on this plant were large. As we were leaving, someone very generously offered to get a whole family picture:
So Daniel and Joshua had a great time, and even walked the entire time without asking to be held, carried, or pushed in the stroller. I'm glad Leslie came up with the idea to visit this place on such a bright, sunny, warm day.
posted by Jake | 10:32 PM
2 Comments:
Leslie! I have that same shirt!!!
That looks like a perfect little vacation! At this age, gardens and trails are much better than museums and historical sites (which is why our kids had more fun on the grounds of Sagamore Hill than inside the house or Teddy Roosevelt museum).
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