Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hunter and Mama Time

Starting our tour of the Gardens.
We are at the top of the falls here.
Hunter took charge of the map and showed guided me around the park. He kept asking for me to find Nannie/Papa's house and Annmother/Pop's house on the map. He didn't understand why their house wasn't on that map :)
Watering the flowers.

Having fun with at the water park.

Since Mackenzie has been born, Hunter and I haven't had a whole lot of alone time. Having time off this week and ENCA being open I took advantage and sent Mackenzie. We started early, due to only having one car and needing to have Adam to work by 7:30am. We started our day at Cracker Barrel. Hunter loves going and looking at the toys. I had packed his wallet just in case he chose to buy something. Sure enough he bought a toy he is calling "The Claw".
After a few pancakes, we headed to the Naples Botanical Gardens. The weather was perfect for a walk through the gardens. Hunter's favorite part, prior to going to the Children's Garden, was the waterfall. Because of Naples location, they are able to grow about anything from South America and Latin America. I took pictures of my favorite trees hoping to add some of them to our yard. The Children's Garden had a water area, a butterfly garden, a tree house, and a nature walk. On the nature walk they provided us with sidewalk chalk to trace the outlines of the leaves we found in the cement. It was so special to have the time to sit down and do sidewalk chalk with Hunter. We even sat in a hammock under some palm trees for a while. Very relaxing morning.
We went and ran a few errands on that side of town, picked up lunch, and then headed to
Sun-N-Fun Lagoon (the local water park). I was a little hesitant to go. Last week Hunter was playing in some sprinklers at a park and he complained of being cold pretty quickly. He would play for a little while, then cuddle up with me on a lounge chair to warm up. This continued for 2 1/2 hours. Adam was even able to join us. Afterwards, Adam was driving Hunter home and they past the fairgrounds. Hunter, who I thought would fall asleep immediately in the car, was wide awake and said, "Daddy, I want to go to the fair right now!" They did come home and grab a quick bite to eat before heading off to the fair. I think I'm going to have one tired boy this evening. He had a day full of quality time with both Adam and I. It is something we all needed.