SD Botanic

So this place was pretty spectacular and a lot closer than I thought.  Silly me, I took “San Diego Botanic Gardens” to mean it was IN San Diego, not 30 miles north (closer to us) in Encinitas.

                            
They had some kind of event going on or were prepping for said event, I can’t remember which—this was only six months ago!—so we had to park in the back/overflow lot and enter through the bamboo forest.  I do remember that it was HOT that day but the bamboo was deliciously cool.

                
They really couldn’t have done any better by us, having us enter through the bamboo and water lily pond.  To my mind, this is still how a botanic garden ought to look, complete with brilliant red dragonflies darting around!

             
Froggy friends.  Did you see that one hiding under the water lily?

   
A variety of textures and sculptures create constant interest for your eyes.

                  
Really, there’s just no end of beauty.

                            
Checking out the gazebo and the waterfall overlook.

Can’t you just feel the sunshine?


Now we come to the children’s garden/play area.  There’s a fun music area . . .

              
a digging/building section . . .

 
and flowers, of course.

                        
The three-story treehouse was actually really hard to get a picture of because of its location, size, and complexity.  So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that was pretty cool too.  The second floor of the treehouse had a bridge over to this play area on the hill, where I probably could have left the kids to play happily all afternoon.

Ready, set, roll!

          
There was a multi-sensory alphabet garden too, which I thought was a really neat idea.

And that about does it for this trip! 

All of August!

        
One of my all-time favorite things: the kids quietly looking at books by themselves.

    
Evidence of craftiness that occurred during the month of August.

This was our final trip to Legoland; the annual passes I purchased for Logan and I (Naomi wasn’t old enough to require one) expired a few days later.

                      
The ancient Egypt/Indiana Jones-style ride was a new one for us.  Yep, even on our last trip, there were still things we hadn’t covered yet.

This one was also new, but after checking these off, we had pretty well maxed out everything in the park with the exception of a couple of roller coasters with significantly higher height limits.  So, hooray for us!

                                     
One last run on a couple of perennial favorites . . .

                       
and we’re moving on!

      
To the pool!

        
Logan had started swim lessons earlier in the summer and was doing fairly well.  Naomi has since picked up lessons and is quickly catching up to Logan’s level!  Should be a fun summer this year when the pool opens back up.

   
Photo shoot with Dad before he left again for a couple of weeks.

                      
The winning shot and then some random goofiness.  I believe the kids were being “Dark” Vader and Princess Leia.  Of course Dark Vader wears heels!

         
Logan and Naomi’s hair for crazy hair day at VBS.  Only Logan was actually attending VBS, but Naomi didn’t want to be left out.

                                 
Another view, just because I had a lot of fun with this and thought they both turned out looking pretty fabulous!

                                  
Love these goofy kids!