Olbrich Botanic Gardens

Today was a beautiful summer day, finally!  We've been having unseasonably cold weather the last week or two, and I thought today was going to be more of the same.  But it was in the low 70s with no rain predicted, so we headed to Olbrich Gardens to see the flowers.  The girls had such a good time exploring all the paths and deciding which way we should go.  They always like to explore the paths around the lake and run over the little bridge.  We saw two turtles sitting on a log today.

I asked the girls where they thought fairies would live in the gardens, so they kept their eyes out for good fairy house locations.  They decided the very best place was under the curly weeping willow tree, next to the pond.   This happens to be their favorite place in the garden, too, because they love to look at the pond, and the willow branches make it feel like a secret hiding place.

 

We kept our eyes out for other good fairy hiding places, and found lots of large leafed hostas and clumps of grasses that would make great fairy villages.  Amelia even had us looking for leaves and flowers that would make good fairy clothes.  She said that was her favorite part of the garden today.  Megan didn't say what her favorite thing was, but I suspect it was watching a caterpillar crawl across the path, especially when I touched the caterpillar gently to encourage it to scamper.  Megan loves to watch bugs!  Of course, Amelia had to play with the fountain in the rose garden, and Ben joined in.  Megan didn't feel like getting wet today.

We always have to walk over to the Thai garden to see the elephants, and this time the girls were intrigued by the reflecting pools.