Kubota Gardens

Okay, I'm back! I think, actually I know, I had a bit of a blog overload after all of those Antarctica posts... I needed a break from writing and time to just not think. Well, I've been thinking a lot, but about different things, like Jack's upcoming birthday (the fun stuff, like his cake and the bad stuff, like the fact that he's growing up...sniff sniff) and how to keep the kiddos learning and happy and busy and not hungry! We also had a computer space issue and for a week or two I wasn't allowed to put any more pictures onto our computer so that was my real excuse for not blogging. That is fixed now, so I can start snapping away again and share our fun times with you all! I missed you!

A couple of weeks ago, I took the kids to a place called Kubota Gardens. It is in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, but it was only a 20 minute drive from here. I had never been there before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I expected a path to walk around the garden and I read that there were some bridges to cross. I thought my children would enjoy a walk around the garden, but I didn't expect that they would absolutely LOVE IT! They LOVED hiking on the trails, climbing the rocks and over bridges (some of which were just like balance beams-very fun!) and they just loved their surroundings. "Mommy, this is beauuuutiful!" and "Mommy, can you take a picture of that?" and "Mommy! Isn't this gorgeous?" were things I heard all morning long. I love how my children enjoy nature! Paige finds a lot of beauty while Jonah always finds some kind of "sword" or "magic wand" when we're out in the woods. Jack enjoys hiking as well and loves seeing birds and ducks big-time. There were times where Jack was the leader of the pack, running the trails and giggling just like the other kids.
Below is a picture of the 3 kiddos right as we entered the gardens. As you can see, Jonah has already collected a sword! And Jacko is really proud of himself, as he climbed the rock all by myself. By the way, Jack is becoming more and more like a two year old and likes doing things himself. We often hear "Do"! which means "Don't you help me. I am going to DO this ALL BY MYSELF!" After hiking we came back to this rock to eat our lunch.

Just some pictures of the garden...

Jack, the leader of the pack...

The kids loved this tree and tried jumping up to reach it.
"Huwo duck duck!"-Jack
We hiked around the trails for a good hour and a half before stopping for lunch. There were main trails, like you saw in some of the pictures, but there were also a lot of small paths shooting off of them. We got a little turned around (lost) at the end. It took us quite a while to find our way out!The kids really enjoyed the water features, like ponds, waterfalls, bridges and ducks! We had so much fun! We'll have to go again soon. Paige keeps asking to go there (like every day), plus, there is a geocache or two hidden there! So we'll go for sure, huh Mike?