so, we went to "ow ardens".....

as one of the day trips we did while i'm on my vacation.  

well, that's were we went when don uses the camera...
here is where we really went.....

yes, that is the shot he took after i looked at the pictures on the camera and had to recompose the shot for him.

he did, however, manage to get a couple nice ones of me.  i never have pictures of myself because i'm always behind the camera.  he just does not want to learn how to use it. i think all of the bells and whistles scare him.
 but i forced him to.  because he is never going to remember what i look like if i croak...

so, i set everything up and all he has to do is push the button.
remember me looking exactly like this, honey, but 20 years younger.  when i wasn't a grandma.

we had never been there before even though it is only about an hour from our house.
it was really beautiful.

huge trees, and i mean huge.

of course, scarlett found a frog.  i had to keep her from putting it into her pocket.
because she loves frogs.

there was a gorgeous rose garden.  i think this was don's favorite part of the venue.  he loves roses

there were hundreds of different ones and we saw some really beautiful varieties.

 i think the kids loved them too.  the colors were stunning and they all smelled so good.

 every color you can imagine.

 i think the bees were in heaven too. their legs were full of pollen.

i think these were my favorites.  i'm a sucker for pink shrub roses.

 the exposure sucked on this one but i loved the shot so i went with it....

the best part was the picnic lunch we brought.  we had chicken salad sandwiches, cheese, bing cherries potato chips and raspberry lemonade.  it was a great summer picnic.  a picnic was on my list of things to do while on my vacation.

 we set out a blanket in a shady quiet spot and ate a leisurely lunch.

 then we laid back for a while and looked for animal shapes in the clouds

and i think we got a little too comfortable with our full bellies....

it was hard to get up and get going again.
but we were excited to see the rest of the gardens....

austen and scarlett were so cute together...

when he didn't have her in a chokehold

or giving her a noogie....

they were bringing tears to my eyes with sweet images like this....austen and scarlett are more like brother and sister than uncle and niece.  they are just 6 years apart so they have practically grown up together.  i think it has kept don and i very young to have a child and a grandchild so close in age.

there were streams to cross

but i thought it would be loads more fun to land in the mud when i jumped the stream.  that was fun!!!!  walking around with a wet muddy foot is always a blast.

and just for the record, i was farther upstream and had a much wider span to jump over than the kids did...

we all loved the children's garden....

 if you look closely, this is a rainbow garden...red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (click to make it bigger)
very clever.

those are actually real grapes on this arbor/tunnel.

 i loved the farmer made of straw who was tending the corn.

and the scarecrows made by children

 helen kell....i mean, austen loved the water pump

there were all kinds of different vegetables and fruits planted within the garden designs.  there was corn, beans, radishes, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes among others.

we spoke with one of the employees who said that when all of the vegetables ripen in august, the kids can just pick and eat what they want.  she told us the only thing ripe when we were there were radishes.  austen picked one and tried it.  not a good thing.....

 lots of insect life too.  have you ever seen a red dragonfly??

me either...until then!!!

i don't think i've ever seen a green elephant either.  until then!!!

why do kids wait until 5 minutes before we are going to leave to run through the sprinklers?
because that is what you do in the summertime.  and then you ask for the picnic blanket in the car because you are freezing cold in the air-conditioning......

it's a definite do-again activity.