Duke Gardens

On Sunday, we went to Duke Gardens.  We weren't sure how many of the flowers would be in bloom yet, but it turned out that the gardens were lovely and the day was beautiful.  Alice loves being outside; she likes to climb on everything and touch everything.

Alice likes to make her own path through the woods.

One giant leap for mankind

Alice loves dipping her hands in water and making hand prints.

Wherever there are fish or fowl to be fed, Alice quickly makes friends with anyone who has food.

 

She must climb every fence she sees.

She imagined the center of this flower sculpture was dinosaur eggs, so we were sitting on them.

Simon's al fresco dining

Sometimes Alice needs to pretend she is a kitty cat and walk on all fours.

More hand prints.  She played here for a long time.

Goats and Boll Weevils

Our activity for Saturday was to visit Historic Oak View Park, a 19th century historic farmstead. The visitor's center had a wonderful little play area where Alice could have stayed all day, harvesting crops and riding animals.

For the next part of the visit, we looked at a small cotton field and explored a cotton barn.

One of the exhibits was about the boll weevil, an insect that destroyed the cotton plant.  I told Alice to push the red button, and she was delighted when it started playing a song.  She pushed that red button many times.

Next, it was off to the livestock barn where Alice gathered eggs, milked a cow, and a patted a pig.

After the barn, we had a snack, then went down to the goat pen.

Nelson and Stana relax on the rocking chairs outside the house used for cooking.

Alice was so excited to see the goats, that she put her head right through the fence.

She couldn't get it out though, and so she started crying.  It should be noted that before rescuing her, Zac took a picture and told her the goats were coming to eat her hair.

So she was a little upset and scared of the goats for a while.

She finally worked up the courage to touch one with one finger.

 Before going home, we took a walk through the grassy pecan grove.

She was all tuckered out after the morning at the farm.

Bunny mask

When there's a lot going on, Simon turns his head a lot and it makes it hard to shovel food into his mouth.  To solve the problem on this occasion, Zac donned the bunny mask that Nelson and Stana had given Alice.

Put me in the zoo!

On Friday, we went to the zoo.  We took the double stroller where Simon lounged in the back and Alice sat up front and could hop in and out of her seat.  Since the NC zoo is so large and spread out, it was really nice to have Nelson and Stana help keep track of Alice and push the baby bus around.

Throughout the zoo, Alice was mainly interested in climbing on all the animal statues.  She liked seeing the animals too, but didn't watch them for too long before running off to find something to climb.  The world is her jungle gym.

She can't read yet, but she likes to pretend to read the signs.

Simon loves watching the kitty cat at home, and he really enjoyed seeing this large cat.

Sometimes Alice would run off.

Our little chimpanzee

 

Alice was quite snuggly at the end, a sure sign of complete exhaustion.

Here we are at the end of the zoo.  We made it!

Alice fell asleep in the car in under 5 minutes.

Jam session with Grandpa

Alice and Nelson playing their "harmonikers" together.  Simon was intrigued at first, but then started crying.

It doesn't get better than this

Alice with Grandpa and Grandma at her favorite place: Pullen Park.

Blowing bubbles with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa are here!

I picked Nelson and Stana up at the airport, then drove directly to day care to pick up the kids.  Alice knew they were coming but still seemed a bit surprised.  She dutifully put away her work before running over to give grandma a big hug.  She was shy around grandpa for a few minutes, but quickly warmed up.

Once at home, Alice and Simon really enjoyed the constant attention from their two new playmates.