Longwood Gardens

This year I decided that on Fridays during the school year (barring unforeseen events and illness) I would take Z and Chooch on a field trip to a different place each week.  It's our last year all together at home (sniff) before Z starts kindergarten and we become slaves to the school calendar and all it's glory.  As a way to keep track of where we go and what we do, a blog was born!  Yay!  Now you can see all of our adventures!  Hope you enjoy!

Last Friday we took our first trip to Longwood Gardens in PA. www.longwoodgardens.org  I had my doubts about how everyone would do (a 90 minute car ride each way, lots of walking, etc.) but I've been wanting to go there for a while.  IT WAS AWESOME!  I had one of those rare parenting moments where everyone behaves, no one complains and the timing works out exactly as you want it to.  The weather was perfect and it seemed like we had the place to ourselves.  We were so excited about it, we made Steve feel bad for not being able to join us - sorry Steve!

 Here are the girls at the entrance to the Topiary Garden.  And below they are walking into one of the park's three tree houses.  This one was all about bees and had an active bee hive.   The other two tree houses were "The Cathedral"  and "The Birdhouse."  

Inside the Garden Conservatory was the most amazing Children's Garden consisting of fountains and pathways and interactive areas.  The water was the main attraction!  The kids could have stayed there all day if I let them!

Everywhere we went there were things for them to do and touch and Z really liked playing with the magnifying glass.  When we made it to the gift shop, that's what we came home with - our own magnifying glasses.






Our visit happened to be during the Lilly pad season (August through October) and this is a photo of just ONE plant.  Each pad is 3-4 feet across.  They were all blooming and it was hard to believe that they were even real.  But they were real, and they were spectacular! 

Finally, here we are at the "Eye of Water."  For some reason, Z was obsessed with seeing this thing even though it required a very exhausting trip up a hill, over a stream and up many steps (carrying a stroller!)  The "Eye" is a huge pump that feeds water into a stream that eventually ends in a giant waterfall and small lake.  Actually, it was worth the trip!

We left the park around 1:00 and Chooch was kind enough to wait to take her nap until we arrived home.  A perfect outing!  Next stop, Larriland Farms for some apple picking!