Thursday, September 8, 2011

Chicago Botanic Gardens

Yesterday we had the blessing of going to the Chicago Botanic Gardens for FREE! We have a close friend who has a membership. So Emmalee and her sweet boys, along with me and my crazies toddled our way around outside for a good 4 hours.

It was pure nourishment for my soul. They have a huge fruit and vegetable garden, where we spent most of our time. We saw a lot of things growing.

One of the walkways was covered with grapevine upon grapevine overhead. I can only imagine what they must've looked like covered in clusters of grapes. There were only a few left, but still beautiful.

Gray-man was fascinated with these flowers. We stayed here for a good 10 minutes at least. Maybe he'll be a gardener when he grows up.

He's growing up before my eyes.

Ilana insisted on using her magnifying glass as a camera all day and took pictures of everything, just like her Momma. :) Maybe she'll be a photographer when she grows up.

A couple of sweet ladies (grade school teachers, we found out later) passed us and asked if we wanted a group picture. I think this is the best one. Yeah, it was a bit like herding cats, and we were thankful for the eyes in the back of our heads because both little men decided the rotten apples on the ground were good to eat.

In high school I was in a singing ensemble whose signature piece was "Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree." The whole time we were in the apple orchard (which was a good 45 minutes), I couldn't get this song out of my mind. I was getting all nostalgic remembering seemingly simpler days of study, uniforms, singing, friends, Jesus and structure (I'm a sucker for structure).

Then the older ones started acting up, so I was jolted back to my "today" reality of having two little ones at home, and I found myself thankful for my past and the foundation it gave to me. Who could be mad at these little ones too long, anyways:

On our way out, I found my favorite flowers.


Hope you're enjoying your today reality, whatever it may be! I've got to go change a poopy diaper have a wrestling match with my son. :)

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