Saturday, June 16, 2012

Butterfly in the sky...I can go twice as high

**This is another catch-up post that I half-wrote and never finished until now.  Once again, I beg your indulgence in pretending I published it on Thursday night.

Several months ago, Emily heard about or saw or somehow became aware of the fact that butterfly gardens exist in the world and it became her momentary heart's desire to go to one.  I did a little research and found that the closest one to us seemed to be in Silver Spring, near DC.  It's a 40+ minute drive depending on the time of day, so it was reasonably doable but still something that would take a bit of planning ahead.

I have also wanted to take the girls to run through the fountains in Rockville Town Sqaure for a couple years now, so I decided that since the girls are old enough to handle longer car rides and longer days out we'd give it a shot.  I made a special resolution to myself to be patient and calm and you know what?  The girls were awesome pretty much the whole time.  Funny how it works out that way, huh?

We spent quite awhile ooohing and aaaahing at the butterflies (and repeatedly holding the dead ones...it was really smart of the employees to supply butterflies that were beyond being hurt for the not-so-gentle kids to hold) then we just explored the grounds of Brookside Gardens.  It was a really gorgeous place, with lots of places for kids to just run and have fun.

























Snack break


Spanish moss!  If only it would grow around here.









After we had been there for 2 hours (and my stomach was starting to rumble), we headed on to Rockville Town Square, where I took the girls to Lebanese Taverna for lunch.  It's one of my favorite restaurants, but apparently not a favorite of the girls.  Considering how much they love chickpeas, hummus and yogurt I figured they'd be all over the food there but no, they didn't really like anything except the french fries :-(


I ordered the lamb fatteh, which I am always copying at home.  It was completely different than when I ordered it a couple years ago though...there was no couscous, tomatoes or pomegranate seeds on top...maybe it's because I ordered it in one of their sit-down restaurant locations and this was one of their counter-service places?  It was still pretty dang yummy though, if not all that attractive.


Then I let the girls run wild in the fountains.  

I took approximately 100 pictures that look just like this

Emily got cold pretty quickly...I guess that's what happens when you have very little body fat






After the fountains we dried off and changed....the girls were so cold they decided the only cure was ice cream.  And because they had had such a nutritious lunch, I gave in and got them ice cream.  It was a special day, plus I couldn't let Daddy be cooler than me, could I?


I'll smile...but I'd SO rather be eating my ice cream right now




There.  NOW I will pose for a picture.
Emily decided it would be nicer to eat outside, and I agreed so we moved locations.




Charlotte did a little dancing and bellowing after every.single.marshmallow she found in her ice cream
Then we headed home, with a very successful mommy-daughters day under our belts.  I hope we have quite a few more of these (although with less junk food) this summer.

When we arrived home, Charlotte was asleep in the car so I opened the windows, left the car on with the AC running and began weeding in the garden right next to the car.  I have REALLY been needing to do some work in our front gardens and this was a perfect opportunity since I'd need to be near Charlotte while she slept anyway.  Well her nap only lasted about 4 minutes after we got home, but luckily the girls busied themselves playing with the next door neighbor in our yard and I was able to get in a solid 2 hours of yard work before it was time to go to the gym.  I was starting to attack our out-of-control rosebush when I noticed this:


We have a robin's nest in our rosebush!  It finally fell into place and made sense that EVERY time we open the front door or pull into the driveway a robin launches herself tweeting out of our garden and flies across the street.  I'm very excited because it's in a place that's easy for me to show the kids so we can (hopefully) watch the babies hatch and grow.  The major pruning I have planned for the rosebush will have to wait.

When Will got home I had been so focused on getting my stupid yard work done that I hadn't done a thing to make dinner, but I passed the girls off to him and headed out the door to take a Zumba class anyway.  My Tuesday morning and Friday morning classes haven't been cutting it...they're both more like gentle Zumba so I've been trying to make an effort to get myself to some of the more heart-pumping classes even though it means going in the evenings which is WAY less convenient when it comes to making dinner and spending time with my husband, but more convenient when it comes to saving money on gym daycare.  Will managed to get the girls and himself fed despite my neglect, and I munched on various things and called it dinner when I got home.  I didn't take any pictures, but there are quite enough of those in today's post already so hopefully you don't feel deprived :-)