The Dallas Arboretum Tradition - 2009 Highlights!

Visiting the Dallas Arboretum has become a tradition for the women and children of our family. The last couple of years my daughters have given me a season's pass for birthday or Mother's Day - and I love it - wish I could go more often! This year they had something special ... fourteen juried playhouses based on storybooks and they are awesome, interactive art structures. If you're in the area I highly recommend it! http://www.dallasarboretum.org/




This was probably
the biggest hit:

Peter Pan's Jolly Roger













Here we have:

Alice in Wonderland, The Teremok, The Owl & the Pussycat and Hansel & Gretel.

The heat and humidity were excruciating - so we took a break for waterplay at the Frog Fountains ... always a huge favorite!
Then time for a picnic in the shade of glorious pecan trees - filled with nut-throwing squirrels and bees a-plenty!



After a little rest we were ready for more:

Treasure Island, City Green, Thumblina, The Little Prince and James & the Giant Peach

Of course, in between were stunning flowers (hibiscus as big as dinner plates!) trees, fountains - the photo ops are outrageous here - but this visit was mainly to enjoy the kids. (I'll go again soon, believe me, because I really missed the Women's Garden, the Fern Dell, the Reflecting Pools, etc!)

While I was standing among the giant hibiscus I heard Trey yelling for me - beside himself with excitement ... seems he had discovered the koi ponds! He grabbed my hand and pulled me (he's faster than me!) to the water's edge and looked so deeply I just knew he was about to fall in ... :-) All the kids loved the beautiful koi and turtles and they did put on a nice show for them - leaping and splashing in all their glorious color!

The day was coming to a close - energy was flagging in bodies tall and small and we snapped a few more memory shots and headed for home ... :-)