Okay, so we took our girls to the local botanical gardens for their birthdays last year, and basically, we had to promise to go back this year to get them to loosen their death grips on the doors when we tried to leave. We kept our promise. One Monday morning between their birthdays, we got up early, dressed, loaded into the car, and set out for the Huntsville Botanical Gardens.
Now, you'll probably notice the girls look a bit younger in the photos. That's because when we did the camera check before heading out, we were dismayed to find the batteries we thought we'd charged, didn't actually, you know, charge. The back up batteries were dead as well. Thankfully I did find an old disposable camera that'd been shoved in the back of the electronics drawer and forgotten about the time Hubby's folks handed their digital camera down to us. We took lots of pictures, but some of the roll still needs to be used, and I've yet to have them developed much less scanned into the computer.
So, back to this year's trip. We learned from our mistake last year. We started the rounds in the butterfly house and went from there instead of ending the morning in the butterfly house. As a result, it was less crowded, the girls were more calm, which led to more up close and personal time with the butterflies, and they didn't pitch the hissiest of all hissy fits when it was time to leave since there were still all sorts of tree houses and gardens to explore instead of just a car ride back home.
You'll notice it's a gigantic wooden ant behind Boo Bear and Sneak
in the top photo instead of a tree house. The gardens have a different theme each year. Last year it was giant insects. This year it was tree houses. As much as they enjoy finding some kinds of bugs, both girls much preferred the tree houses, aside from the slide at the Wizard of Oz tree house. (It was faster than anticipated. Boo Bear flew right off the end and landed on her rear.)
It was terribly hot. Several of the gardens have water features designed to cool visitors down as they go through. Most of these are in the children's garden in the form of motion sensored "rockets" in the space themed area, misting rocks in the dinosaur garden, and just fountains in others. Well, let's just say, even with temps in the lower to mid 90s, the girls would have rather avoided the sprays. The misters and fountains weren't much of a problem, but the motion sensors illicited screams from both girls.
Even with the apparently terrifying mists and oppressive heat, both girls did not want to leave when it started getting late, and lunch/nap time approached. It was only the promise of the pizza lunch out we'd planned that smoothed over their disappointment.
Plus, the vow to go back next year.
Now, you'll probably notice the girls look a bit younger in the photos. That's because when we did the camera check before heading out, we were dismayed to find the batteries we thought we'd charged, didn't actually, you know, charge. The back up batteries were dead as well. Thankfully I did find an old disposable camera that'd been shoved in the back of the electronics drawer and forgotten about the time Hubby's folks handed their digital camera down to us. We took lots of pictures, but some of the roll still needs to be used, and I've yet to have them developed much less scanned into the computer.So, back to this year's trip. We learned from our mistake last year. We started the rounds in the butterfly house and went from there instead of ending the morning in the butterfly house. As a result, it was less crowded, the girls were more calm, which led to more up close and personal time with the butterflies, and they didn't pitch the hissiest of all hissy fits when it was time to leave since there were still all sorts of tree houses and gardens to explore instead of just a car ride back home.
You'll notice it's a gigantic wooden ant behind Boo Bear and Sneak
in the top photo instead of a tree house. The gardens have a different theme each year. Last year it was giant insects. This year it was tree houses. As much as they enjoy finding some kinds of bugs, both girls much preferred the tree houses, aside from the slide at the Wizard of Oz tree house. (It was faster than anticipated. Boo Bear flew right off the end and landed on her rear.)It was terribly hot. Several of the gardens have water features designed to cool visitors down as they go through. Most of these are in the children's garden in the form of motion sensored "rockets" in the space themed area, misting rocks in the dinosaur garden, and just fountains in others. Well, let's just say, even with temps in the lower to mid 90s, the girls would have rather avoided the sprays. The misters and fountains weren't much of a problem, but the motion sensors illicited screams from both girls.
Even with the apparently terrifying mists and oppressive heat, both girls did not want to leave when it started getting late, and lunch/nap time approached. It was only the promise of the pizza lunch out we'd planned that smoothed over their disappointment.
Plus, the vow to go back next year.
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