Botanical Gardens

I took our kids to the Botanical Gardens in Naples, we went with my neighbor Liz and her kids.

It has a Kids Garden where the kids spent hours (literally) playing and having fun. In this picture Tom is carrying a watering can. The kids spent a lot of time filling and re-filling and watering the plants and flowers. The little house in the background had table and chairs inside and brooms for the kids to sweep.

They were so busy at work. I wish I could inspire such voluntary, intense effort at home. They each were so busy helping and cleaning and watering, and I just sat back and watched.

It was a hot day - almost 100 degrees. I sat in the shade and that helped, but getting wet is what helped the most.

We didn't come prepared with swim suits or towels, so the kids just got wet in their clothes. I didn't want to walk around wet, so I just splashed a little on my head and neck to cool me off.

Lydia didn't like wearing wet clothes, so she took them off. I tried to persuade her to put them back on, but to no avail. So I let her go all natural.

More watering going on. This really was a favorite activity. This was such a beautiful place.

 I would love a back yard like this. If these gardens were closer we'd be there at least once a week, if not more often, but it's at about 40-45 minutes away. A little too far to go too often, especially with all the other driving around we do here - it is all so spread out and we don't live near by anything.

Giant lilypads

Those giant floating green things are lilypads. The little ones in the foreground are more of what I think of when I imagine lilypads. The large ones are very thick and the underside is poky, like a cactus. The fun thing about the botanical gardens was seeing a variety of plants.