At different times on the weekends there is something called the Family Garden Ramble at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary. We didn't end up discovering what exactly that is... but we had fun visiting anyways.
From the photos it looks like we're miles outside of a city.. enjoying a rustic adventure all to ourselves. But this garden and forest is actually a small oases in the city and is less than a 10 minute drive down the parkway from our house. An easy bike ride, too.
I often travel with my 28mm. It's short so it's easy to fit, doesn't take up space when I'm carrying it, isn't long enough to hit things, and therefore has a smaller chance to getting damaged than a longer lens or a zoom with moving parts.
I love the 28mm for a lot of reasons. I recently started trying to take photos of myself with a kiddo or two using it because it's wide enough and has a short focusing distance. It's much harder than a phone but enjoyable nonetheless.
Olive made us stop at the map and show Tyler what we were going to do and where we were going to do it. It seems that coming here for the Nature Tots program a few times has made Olive an expert.
The visitor's center is so pretty.
There is always a fire burning inside. It's just down the hill when you enter the park. I love walking in to the smell of burning wood.
The little DoodleBug explorer mice came along for the trip.
This time of the year, when the trees only have little buds, if anything, is nice because you can see so far and get a really good idea of the topography of the land.
We found one green thing.
Another great thing about no leaves on the trees is the way the sunlight reaches the forest floor and casts such long and interesting shadows.
June didn't want to be in the Ergo carrier for long. He soon wanted Tyler's arms. And soon after that he wanted to be down. The path was recently covered with mulch.. which June was delighted about.
He very excitedly ran up to me with a stick and some mulch he had collected.
See?
June running up hill is pretty amusing. Kind of like slow motion.
Oh, the light.
June found a puddle of water on a rock. Olive said it was for deer to drink. June said it was for bathing his mouse.
Olive stopped at this sign and attempted to read it. "Staie-oon Ta-ra-ah-eye-el" Close....
A climber and a photographer.
Then we meandered into the wildflower garden. It's mostly tall dead grass right now. Which is kind of my favorite.
I asked Tyler to take some photos with me in them. I'm glad I did.
He took that one, too.
This is Olive teaching me something about seeds. Or telling me her plan. I don't recall which. But this is her "I'm informing you of something" face.
She found some seeds in a pod that didn't fall.
Yum?
Look! It's me!
I think June was trying to feed the camera lens.
If you would like to see all of the photos from our little adventure click here.
