Art Hill and the Bo-tangle Gardens

Tay-Tay came for an overnight visit and we filled the time with all sorts of fun things. Friday night, shortly after arriving, she and the boys went swimming. This swimming trip wasn't as long as usual because well...they were all hungry. I had a little trouble with the oven and it didn't heat up as quickly as I was expecting so dinner was still a little bit of a wait. Saturday morning as quickly as we could we all got bundled up and went to Art Hill for sledding. We went early hoping we would miss the crowds. It worked. The hill wasn't too crowded. We all took turns going down and it was one of our better sledding experiences. The snow was packed and we were able to make it down the hill with minimal effort. Aside from the fact that Monkey had to pee about 45 minutes in causing us to have to leave didn't hinder the fun time. It's a B.I.G. hill and it's fun going down but a haul to get back up. Four or five times down really can be enough. :D

After Art Hill we came home and had a potty break, ate some lunch, then headed back out to make it to the Bo-tangle Gardens (as Monkey calls it) before noon catching their free admission time. We planned on walking through the Climatron as the main event. There was a bird exhibit where we were able to see an American Kestrel, a Screech Owl, a Barn Owl, and a Red-Tailed Hawk from the World Bird Sanctuary. White Belt suggested we get a Red-Tailed Hawk for our attic to keep the squirrel problem we have up there under control. Then we headed to the Climatron.

White Belt has been a little off today and I think he must also have the cold that I have. So the first picture we weren't able to get him to pose with Tay-Tay and Monkey. The second picture was a rare moment when White Belt, Tay-Tay, and Monkey were all clustered together looking at the sensitive plant. This plant, when you touch it's leaves, closes up hence the name sensitive plant. Tay-Tay was hoping to find more plants like that as well as the meat-eating plants which we never found. Then I was going to lead us to the Japanese garden only to run into a dead end because of the snow and construction on the Victorian Garden. After hitting a dead end we decided against going any further really and went through the Camellia exhibit before leaving the Garden. Leaving so soon wasn't a big deal since we did get in for free.

After the Garden we came back home. Tay-Tay and the boys went out back to play which lasted about 20 minutes. Then they came in and had a snack, and we're all sitting around waiting for the time when we have to leave to take Tay-Tay home. All in all it's been a lovely visit from our "pretend sister/daughter".