Vacay ~ Day 7

Day seven...our annual trip to the botanical garden to check out this year's new theme. 

We  had planned on going to the botanical garden this morning before it got too hot, but since Mamo had to make an unexpected trip to the dentist which took most of the morning, we decided we would go after Landry's nap. We knew if we tried to go without her having a nap, it would be disastrous!  Well it ended up being very, very, very hot. The girls were troopers had a great time anyway, especially since they were able to get a little wet!

The girls were pretty excited about the theme being "Tremendous Tree Houses". I have to say that I am always impressed with this place and the tree houses were no exception. They were awesome!

The very first tree house was a "POTTED PLANT" with the tree being the flower. The girls walked inside the pot and up the stairs and peeked out the top of the pot.  Too cute!

Here is one of our FLOWER GIRLS who always brightens my day with that smile of hers!

Next stop was watching the MINI TRAIN  going all around the miniature town. Landry was impressed until she realized she could only look...not touch or ride!

Moving right along to the giant BIRD'S NEST!  We all thought that was pretty cool. 

We wanted to get a picture of the girls in the nest together, but in true two year old fashion Landry wasn't interested...shocker I know.  So we had to all get in the nest for a Texas Bryce Family picture...

...and we might have bribed I mean motivated Landry into sitting with us for a family picture by letting her play in the water if she cooperated.  This girls LOVES playing in water...whatever works!

Our littlest monkey following the monkey signs to another giant tree house.

I seriously LOVE pictures of the girls walking hand in hand...they are one of my all time faves and I take advantage whenever I can!

Helllllooooooo down there yall!

While the girls were at the top of this PIRATE SHIP tree house with Daddy, Mamo and Uncle Todd gave the swings a try.

Then ARB needed to swing with Uncle Todd...

...and of course LPB need her turn too!

Again with the water obsession. They walked around the edge of this pond and Mamo knew to make sure she had a good grip on LP since she thinks she can swim and loves the water and would totally jump in all by herself otherwise.

It was funny because as they were walking, Landry would all of a sudden just bend down and touch the water...again good thing Mamo had a good grip on her!

                       

After moving along from the BALL PIT tree house, Uncle Todd gave Lan-Lan a shoulder ride so she could be tall like the trees.

The next house we happened upon was the WIZARD OF OZ tree house complete with slides, the characters and...

The Wicked Witch of the West. Ashton was THA-rilled because her 2nd grade teacher loved the Wizard of Oz and talked all about it. She was so excited to have her picture taken with the witch's feet.

Everyone was super duper hot so we decided it was time to make our way to the BUTTERFLY GARDEN! This is Ashton's and Mamo's most favorite part of the botanical garden.  On the way into the garden the girls, Daddy, and Uncle Todd stopped to get a good look at the spiders...in cages!

When you walk into the Butterfly Garden you can put nectar on your hands and arms in hopes of being lucky enough to have a butterfly land on you. Unlike last year, Ashton didn't have any butterflies land on her but Mamo did....Landry was in complete awe and tried her hardest to touch the flying flowers as Mamo calls them.

A picture with Mamo, Papo, and the girls....even though once again Landry wasn't in the mood!

After letting the girls play in the play area and the water, we decided it was way too hot (even for us Texas folk) and we headed home. We did stop and have a special Sno Cone before dinner because you can do stuff like that when you are on vacation with the grandparents.  They were yummy and sure did cool us off!

When we got home, we headed to the backyard so the girls could feed the geese. 

Since the patio was shaded and the girls wanted to play outside, Mamo busted out the 3D SIDEWALK CHALK!!!  That was super cool!

 P was loving the 3D glasses and didn't let them out of her sight--she just thought they were cool real glasses!

Again with the water...it never gets old with her! This time she was loving the hose after Mamo used it to clean out her little sink!

Ashton and Mamo decided to bust out the new game they got from Target called Bocce Ball (Boch-ee I think that is how you say it)

Daddy's Uncle Jeff (who is a great fisherman and learned from the one and only Papo-the-Great just like Daddy did) drove up from Tennessee to go fishing with Daddy in the lake behind Mamo's and Papo's house. They had fun and were quite successful--they threw 'em all back after they caught them.

We had a HOT but really enjoyable day today. I do think we should come back and do the botanical garden sometime other than July...I am thinking October might a good time!!