Animal Adventure

On Saturday we decided to keep our fun family weekend going and take the boys to the Meijer Gardens. A few weeks back I posted about the Butterfly exhibit there that we went to with Noah's class. Since Steve couldn't go, we decided to go as a family since our Children's museum membership has dual membership just for the month of May.

We have been there many times, but this time we actually LOOKED at the statues instead of beelining straight for the children's garden. The boys actually enjoyed looking at the statues and both wanted to go hunting for pennies in the fountain.














In the children's garden, Aaron wanted to play in the water...



















while Steve and Noah went to dig for dinosuar fossils.














Then we discovered a path that I didn't even know was there and decided to take a walk. I am so happy I have become more lax about Aaron riding in a stroller. We never would have survived otherwise.

After walking for a little while, I noticed we were coming up to some water. We ended up walking right along a somewhat large lake and when we stopped to look at the water, I said"I bet if we wait long enough, we'll see a turtle." So we all waited...

and waited...



















and waited.



















Then, Daddy spotted it sitting on the end of a branch in the water.














After watching it for awhile we stopped a little further to look for another turtle. A BEAVER was hiding under a dam right out where we could see it. Later, a muscrat was swimming right near where we were crossing.

A little while later, while we were stopped to see yet another turtle, another passerby saw a huge green frog hiding in the water. It was fun to watch, even though neither of the boys could see it until I took a picture of it and then enlarged it on my viewer.



Can you see it?












Continuing along, we then found geese sitting on their eggs...















and a final turtle.














I know this seems a bit trivial, but I am not usually the most fun person to take a nature hike with. I don't like being sweaty and the bees are usually attracted to me above anyone else. So for me to have enjoyed this adventure was indeed momentous for Steve.

I even found myself taking pictures of pretty flowers along the way.














How girly is that?