RBG

The day after Rebecca's trip to Balls Falls I was scheduled to take Marietta and her friends to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG). Marietta has a great fascination with photography. Grandpa (my dad) gave us an extra camera some time ago which is mostly the girls (but used by mom and dad occasionally) and Marietta loves to go out and take pictures of flowers and nature. Last year (see here for last years pictures) we went to the RBG Rock Gardens and I had said we would go back again to see the gardens throughout the summer ... but we never did. Marietta had been asking to go see the tulips again this year and since her friends had also just gotten their own cameras she wanted to go with them. A small reminder was needed that we live much further from the RBG then we used to and gas is not cheap. And so it was decided that if the girls paid for the gas I would be the chauffer. Rebecca thought it would be nice to go along too if she could take a friend ... Marietta thought this would be great as it would decrease their gas price. So Rebecca invited her best friend Meaghan (from her old school) and was very much looking forward to getting together with her as it had been a long time since they had seen each other.


Unfortunately we did not have a very great spring. It was cold and wet. The tulip season was short. Our weekends seemed to be full and so it wasn't until the kids had a long weekend that we were finally able to make it out on a Thursday night. This worked out nice as it meant they could sleep in the next day and we did not have to be rushed to get home. (We went at night because then it was free to get in). Rebecca continued to be sick, but she wanted to go with because she would get to see her Meaghan. On Thursday morning she was feeling bad enough that she was able to make the decision on her own that she would stay home (actually go to a sitters) as she did not have the energy to go with.


The tulips were mostly done when we got there. Many had already been dug out and those that were left we not looking so bring and perky. Marietta was quite disappointed and it put a bit of a damper on the first bit of our trip. The other girls were having fun regardless and after some coaxing and pointing things out to Marietta she began to realize that flowers are lovely to take pictures of but that there were lots of other nice shots she could take of the pathways and trees and garden setup. The gardens are beautiful there and make a lovely place to have pictures taken.

This picture was pretty good timing. Just as I snapped the button Syvannah spotted the gopher that they had been tracking


















I should take some time to try doctor some of these pictures up a bit ... but if I wait until that gets done I'll never get around to bloggin :) Marietta has been having fun figuring out Picnik and playing with some of these pictures, maybe if she comes up with something nice I'll post them.







































Climbing about to figure out different poses and settings. The girls forgot all about tulips, flowers, and nature, they were having too much fun taking pictures of each other. Or should I say, having me take pictures of them in different locations/poses.










































The girls had been talking about and singing the song So Long, Farewell from the Sound of Music on the trip up and so they decided to try out their "Cuckoo" poses.


























































This would look a little nicer if there was actually water in the pond like there is supposed to be ... considering how wet it had been you think it would have been full.

After our garden "tour" we stopped for an ice cream on our way home. It was late by time we got back and then went to pick up Rebecca and Matthew. We found Rebecca, Brent and Mitchell watching Anne of Green Gables and so we let them finish the movie while we enjoyed a cup of tea ... making it really late ... good thing the next day was a holiday.