Last Children's Garden Post of the Day!

Another cool part of the children's garden--a couple of giant logs for climbing on. So cool to have a new outdoor place to explore, where kids are encouraged to play, and where things are a a little more free-form than a traditional park.

And Even More Children's Garden Playtime

More playtime at the garden--romping on dinosaur eggs and dino statues.

More Children's Garden

I think that this is Parker's favorite part of the children's garden--a cool natural sand area filled with big plastic dinosaurs and a big turned-over tree's root system. He loves to position all of the dinosaurs in the tree roots :)

Seeds of Wonder

Thanks to Grammy and Grandpa Mark, we are enjoying our Christmas present early this year--passes to Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas! They have a FANTASTIC children's garden for preschoolers, with so many fun things for kids to do--a playhouse with books and a pretend kitchen, a natural sand pit with dinosaurs, a veggie/herb garden, a model train, blocks, a place for them to pot their own plant, and crafts and story times on different days of the week. There are little trails for kids to explore, funny little plants and pots and fountains and statues, and awesome tree trunks and roots all meant to be climbed on. It's so cool to take Parker there for an hour or so on any given day, making for a great alternative to yet another trip to the park! Here he is showing off the little succulent that he potted himself--and working on his fake smile :)

Quail Botanical Gardens

Grammy and Grandpa have been in Carlsbad for the last week, and we managed to fit in a visit to the Quail Botanical Gardens today before they head back to Montana! Parker showed us all of the cool things there are to play with in the special Children's Garden, where he and Mimi had played about a week ago. We all really enjoyed the gardens, but it was hot hot HOT today! So we're looking forward to making many trips back in the future...especially on nice cool mornings! Parker played on "drums," climbed up the tree house, built a "store" where he sold food, and dug in the sand with tractors. We also checked out lots of pretty plants, and he was quick to point out the cork trees for us, explaining that that's where corks in wine bottles come from! He's quite the good learner :)