Birthday Outing

We didn't really get to celebrate Little Monkey Man's birthday yesterday. At least not as I would have wanted to. Being that it was a church day and that daddy was working, we planned a family outing today in honor of the big day. The children's garden is also where we took Snug for his second birthday. It is a free place to visit! If you live in SW Ohio and want to know more, leave a comment and I'll e-mail you! Click here to see what the boys looked like at this same garden two years ago.

The flowers at the garden are gorgeous! This is a double Tiger Lily.

Every year they have some sort of a theme. This year there are farm animals made out of recycled materials welded together. (You can see some of a rooster in the Tiger Lily picture)

Bees love it there, but I've never had them bother the kids.

I don't know what this plant is, but I want one...or 200. They look like fireworks.

I could seriously spend all day sitting in this garden reading a book.

There are lots of nice places to sit and read.

But it is a children's garden so there is much more to it that plants...and I will never get away with going and just reading a book!

Luckily my guys were nice enough to stop playing and let me take some pictures.

But most of the time I just took pictures of them playing. Daddy had the day off, so we enjoyed his company too.

There is lots and lots of water at this garden. This is the one water feature that the kids may not get in. It is a koi pond.

Fun in the playhouse

Playing in the "prairie" area.

There are different areas throughout the garden. Prairie, wetland, woods, etc. along with the sensory garden, storybook garden, music maze, and different play areas.

Snug was trying to teach LMM to walk from stump to stump. LMM was trying very hard...however his legs just physically are not long enough to do it!

At one point we thought Snug's shorts looked kinda short on him. When he changed into his bathing suit, I noticed he was wearing 18-24 month shorts. Oops. They were perfect in the waist...but a little short for his legs! (He currently wears a 4T with the extenders in his waist band pulled all the way tight).

Rosebud liked the garden too. She spent much of her time in the stroller snoozing, but enjoyed snuggle time too. I didn't wear her in a sling because I bend over to examine way too many plants :o)

The boys love to pump the water and then use the watering cans to water the plants. Several plants are specifically labeled "water here".

This is the music maze...they've planted hedges that have different musical instruments throughout.

All the running around the boys do just makes her exhausted.

Before lunch we put the boys' swim suits on and they went wading in the stream and playing in the caves.

Snug and Little Monkey are wearing the same size swim trunks this summer. They are size 18-24 month or 2T. Snug has the "right" size, but he can't keep them on. Makes it easy on me, I just grab 2 sets and go.

Eating "peanut-jelly smamiches" and these really cool corn (and gluten-free) tortillas I found at Aldi...they are HUGE. The picnic tables are all kid sized. #1 and I were not real comfortable, but it was great for the kids.

We've been to this garden several time before, and neither of the boys liked the water fall area. Well, lo and behold today it was a favorite. As we walked by to go home, they decided they had to get in. I was glad I brought their Ear Band-its. They got soaked. Little Monkey wouldn't do anything if other kids were around, but he did the water fall once they weren't there. He doesn't normally like fountains/sprinklers but today it was a hit.

LMM loved this turtle that shot water out of his mouth.

We went because yesterday was LMM's birthday...but I think I'd like to go back for mine!