The Other Colors at the Botanical Gardens

Yesterday I posted couple of RED pictures from our day at the botanical gardens on Saturday.  Of course there were many more colors we got to enjoy!

We made our first trip to the gardens in June (about 75 miles from where we live).  We fell in love and bought a membership, excited about the many awesome programs they have each season.

During this, our fall trip, we got to enjoy a taste of bluegrass music...

...and we loved seeing the 40 scarecrows designed by different local artists, perched throughout the estate.

This was probably the most traditional scarecrow, and the girls' favorite.

There is also a model train exhibit set up right now.  I didn't think to get a larger picture of the tracks, but they were nothing short of amazing!  Everything was built on materials found in nature...lots of tree stumps supported the tracks, and the bridges were made of small twigs.  It was pretty cool!

Of course we were excited to see the many beautiful fall colors...

...and hunt for the biggest and brightest leaves.

Baby A isn't always very cooperative for pictures these days...she was more than willing to "hide" behind this leaf that was as big as her head!

In addition to the fall festivities, we loved meandering throughout the gardens.  Here's a sampling of the fun we had...

I can usually get a picture if I ask the girls, "Do those flowers smell?"  Good thing they don't have allergies!

And the girls are always willing to climb up on something and peer over a ledge!

"Hug your sister!"

"Smile with Mommy!"  (They obviously didn't hear the second part..."Look at Daddy!")

"What's in that well???"

Our favorite activity...a +1 mile nature hike, along which there are several huge outdoor sculptures.

"Beep the tortoise's nose!"

 

"Hug your sister again!"  (The girls were getting a little tired at this point.)

I was trying to make pictures of the girls after lunch.  Baby A said, "Sissy has something on her face!"  I asked her if she could get it off...which resulted in fits of giggles.

"Look!  There's water in that tree trunk!  Can you see your reflection?"

And my favorite pictures from the day...Baby A loved these lion statues when we first met them this summer.  She was tickled to be reunited with them.  The lions were hungry, though, so Baby A fed them some special leaves.  Problem solved.

I'm already looking forward to seeing the gardens decorated for the holidays!

Seeing RED at the Botanical Gardens

Today was forecasted to be an absolutely gorgeous fall day, and we decided this morning it was a great day to visit the botanical gardens.

The grounds there are beautiful in any weather, and this month they have 40 scarecrows designed by different artists also adorning the gardens.  There's also an outdoor model train exhibit right now, and that just has our names written all over it.

More pictures to come, but I wanted to quickly link up a couple of "RED" pictures with Marcia's photography link-up.

If you're an actual photographer, please don't judge too harshly!  :)  Big thanks to Marcia (and Mandy, too!) for inspiring me to turn off my Auto Focus.

Bee on a RED flower.  (I edged my way right alongside an actual photographer to take this pic!)

RED berries.

Baby A found a RED leaf, and she was very proud to show it to me.

We had a great day, and it was fun to challenge myself a bit to see RED, too.

Views from the Gardens

Last week we made our first trip to the botanical gardens.  It was such a fantastic day!  Admittedly, we were probably the furthest thing from botanists...we didn't exactly pause to take note of the genus and species of each flower, bush, and tree...but we had a great time tromping around the grounds.

This summer there are seven treehouses on exhibit throughout the gardens.  In addition to the amazing landscaping and lush sculpture hike, the girls were so excited to explore the treehouses.

I had hoped to get some really gorgeous pictures of the girls.  I dressed them in these delicate white tops, thinking it would be a great contrast to the colors in the garden.

The girls had other plans, though.  The didn't cooperate for even one posed picture.  At least you can tell they were interested in their surroundings...almost every picture I have is of the backs of their heads!  ;)

The first treehouse we saw...a relatively traditional one, a nod to Henry David Thoreau.  The girls (and Daddy) were itching to explore it.

 

Checking out a "wishing pond"...

We spotted a spiderweb that was full of dew.  Just like in one of our books, it truly looked like a web of diamonds!

Another "wishing well"...the girls were *almost* tall enough to see in.  (I love the tippy-toes!!!)

This was indicative of Baby A's look most of the day.  She was just taking it all in, I guess.  Still, I love her eyes in this picture.

On the sculpture trail, the girls were both in love with these smaller statues.  Here is B, "beeping the nose" of a frog.

And here is Baby A, squaring off with a lion.  Doesn't she look fierce?!!!

I love this shot of Baby A "in flight".  If she sees a step, she *has* to jump off it!

I didn't take many pictures of "things", but I had to capture my favorite treehouse...an enormous fish with CDs for scales! 

I told the girls that they would get to play in the treehouses.  We climbed in all of them, but this last one was really the only one with something they considered "playing"...a slide.  It was a great end to our botanical adventure!

We bought a membership to the garden, and I'm already looking forward to their scarecrow displays in October, and a number of Christmas activities in December.  This is definitely right up our alley!