Garden Party

As you are fully aware, we like to "rush toward life" around here, which translates to not many days of sitting around on our butts doing nothing. We like to always have at least one outing per weekend... if not more! So on the last weekend in June, after I was stuck at work on Saturday, we knew we had to find some family outdoor time on Sunday. We hemmed and hawed about our options, but finally settled on the drive to Clemson to visit the SC Botanical Gardens.

 

 

 

It was also a great excuse to try out Bimmer's new backpack carrier. Since she has long ago outgrown her Bjorn, we've been lucky enough to get away with using the stroller. But we've got some festivals and nature walks/hikes coming up that just won't jive with wheels. So after some back and forth on what type of carrier we wanted, I let Puff win that battle, and we came up with this guy. Bimmer totally loves it.

 

 

 

The gardens are free and a lot of it is shaded, so it's mostly tolerable in the South Carolina summer heat. Although carrying 30+ pounds on his back kept Puff sweating the whole time! We spent all morning wandering the trails and checking out the maintained gardens. We let Bimmer down a few times and she was in heaven. She loved running her hands over the flowers and clapping at them. She did really well and didn't really try to pick any off, which is a far cry from what she does in our yard with our begonias!

 

 

 

We definitely have a little tomboy on our hands though. She loves to pick up sticks and leaves and run her hand through piles of dirt. Any time she was down, she would start a little collection of twigs and leaves from the paths. She would even stop sometimes to pull up the weeds in the cracks between the pavers. A woman after Puff's heart, he says!

 

 

 

I absolutely love that we choose to live the type of life that keeps us busy. We are also lucky enough to live in a state where there are tons of things to check out within a day's drive, and a lot of them are free! (This was one of those free excursions.) It's no wonder my photo album is bursting with pictures from all of our adventures. Bimmer is a happy little girl. We are blessed to keep her that way.