Botanic Gardens

Before I start this post, I had to share this little girls' cape that I did for a friend last week. I just love it! Betcha can't guess what all the kiddos in my family are getting this year.... ha ha. (Inside of the cape- I didn't make this one reversible, but it could easily be reversible)

So, my mom, sister, and I took Audrey and my nieces to the Botanic Gardens today to check out the new children's section. It's called "My Big Backyard" and it's like the best backyard that a kid could ever imagine. A huge tree house, a wooded area to build forts and play games, little playhouses with different themes, a dress up section, tunnels, sandboxes, and water- what more can a child ask for? The Botanic Gardens are always so beautiful but there hasn't been much for kids to do besides run around and feed the (very large and agressive) fish, so I am really excited about this new section.

The tree house

The slide was a hit with the little girls...

and the little girl at heart.

Luckily, Natalie found something more age appropriate for her. She and my niece built this fort while the younger 2 ran around the tree house.

The dress up station was a big hit.

After Audrey dressed up her doll, she decided to dress up herself while the other girls finished their dolls.

These were 2 of the playhouses for the kids.

The yellow playhouse had chalkboard paint on the inside of it with buckets of chalk as well as the clothes line in the back. I loved the red adirondack chairs. I could have sat there all afternoon!

The blue house was the music house. They should have put the red chairs in front of that house because no sane adult wants to be inside that house when there is more than 1 child banging on all the instruments. Especially with a child like Audrey around who loves to bang AND sing along.

What a great place they have created! There were so many more things for the kids to do that I didn't get pictures of but I look forward to many more trips there.

As for the next 9 days, we are headed to Florida for our annual beach vacation. This year we're adding a stop at Walt Disney World and I'm pretty sure Audrey is going to be in complete and utter heaven. She's definitely ready to go so we'll overload you all with pictures and stories when we get back!