Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Yesterday we took the kids to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I had been told by other mommies that there is a super cute little kid's garden tucked away on 2 acres separate from the big gardens. That these 2 acres afforded the kids a chance to run wild, play outside, and enjoy natural beauty. I have been wanting to take Sophie since she started walking, but could never round up anyone to go with me. The weatherman forecasted a beautiful weekend - a forecast that I decided was just perfect for a visit to the gardens. I finally asked and begged enough that John gave in and decided to go with me.

Since we were driving down to Atlanta and the gardens are half way between our house and Tara's, I asked her if she would like to join us. I knew that Sophie would just be overjoyed to see her Aunt TaTa and to run around like a maniac with Justin. With a little prodding and the promise that the garden wasn't going to be lame that she though, Tara also gave in and agreed to meet up. So we piled everyone in the car - me, John, Sophie & Tripp in ours and Tom, Tara, Justin and Summer in theirs - and headed to the Gardens. Of course, like usual, there were road closures and detours and a bunch of other annoying mishaps on 75, but after a long round-about way, we got to the gardens around 11:30. Weather was beautiful - sunny and 63. Good you even ask for a more beautiful day in February? I think not! And, it was our lucky day! Bank of America customers entered for free. Awesome! Great start to a perfect day.

The children's garden is just awesome! It wasn't in bloom - at all - but I didn't expect it to be. I can only imagine how beautiful it will be in spring; I am already planning our trip back. In fact, the kids loved the gardens so much, as did I, that I think we'll buy season tickets. Our first stop inside the gates was the potty. I must just insert here that I was very proud of Sophie. She poopied in the potty while we were there. She's really doing a great job with the potty training. So after the potty we ate (a very overpriced not so yummy meal). There was a little water feature that the kids hung around while we waited for food. I took some really great photos of them playing by the water. They had such a great time just running around the courtyard and playing by the water, I could just see their excitement bubbling over and they could barely stand still!

You have to cross over a little walkway to enter the children's garden. We were walking on the walkway when Justin decided to sit down and take his shoe off. Apparently a few little rocks had made their way into his shoe and he didn't like that. LOL. It was really cute. I took a picture of this, because he plopped down and everyone just stopped and watched him while he emptied his shoes. I don't know why, but it was just funny to me. When you enter the gardens, there is a beautiful "roof" of veins overhead. There are sunflower sprinkler heads wound through the vines. In the summer they have the sprinklers on and the kids can play in the water. It's cute. If you look just beyond this, you can see the tops of some of the hi rise buildings that are downtown. I thought that was pretty cool. This garden is a little piece of heaven in the middle of downtown Atlanta. If you follow the path, it winds and wraps like a little maze through various play areas. The first is a big fish (possibly a bug, not sure) that leads into a caterpillar looking thing that leads into a butterfly area. After butterflies you find an area with a small dinosaur and a sandbox where you can "dig" for artifacts. The kids loved this! There was a little slide built into a cave, which if I had to rate, would have been the highlight of the day for the kids. Other little areas included a house that was supposed to simulate where an American Indian might have lived. There was little benches where they hold story time (we will be attending those one day!) and frogs on benches throughout the park. There were a few little ponds that added a nice serene touch and finally a 3 story tree house.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I cannot wait to go back when Tripp is walking. I am sure my little wild man will terrorize the gardens with the best of them. LOL While I do wish the gardens were in bloom, I could really have asked for a better day with the kids. They ran and played and laughed and yelled. The truly just got to enjoy being kids and enjoy being with their family. I absolutely loved yesterday. Sounds funny when I say it like that because I love every day with my kids, but I guess yesterday was just an extra special day with them.