Duke Gardens

Friday, May 7th, the kids and I went to visit Duke Gardens and ended up hiking around for about 90 minutes.  It was more fun than I thought it would be.  Tavin walked the entire time, and that should be the greatest measure of enjoyment since everyone was SO VERY tired from the trip.

We entered the gardens at the main entrance and found the circle of roses. 

Our next stops were the lake and the cascading gardens below the vine gazebo.  The kids loved hiking around the lake.  This little "catwalk" area was really fun for them.  These purple flowers were so COOL.  The girls called them "Puff Balls".

This was below the gazebo and, believe it or not, most of these pictures were made at the request of the kids.  They wanted to take a picture at everything!

The sign at the tree said no climbing, so we chose to sit instead of climb.

These pretty flowers were all in the section below the gazebo.

The rest of the pictures were taken in my favorite section of Duke Gardens - Bloomquist Gardens.  Not many flowers are there.  Mostly it is a beautiful area of native plants.  The area is shady and cool with many small areas for sitting and reflecting.  The kids tried out all the best spots.

This stone table was the first spot I realized Tavin was in two-tone attire.  He may grow up with a major conflict in his life:  Duke or Carolina?!

Isn't this a neat structure?  It is overlooking a very cute feeding area for squirrels.  We saw 5-10 of them scurrying around constantly while we checked out the area.  Together with bridges and stepping stones, this area was a big hit.  I felt like I had been given a small gift with my children.  We needed a little vacation from the stress of so much emotion and the stress that comes as you try to see and interact with so many family members in such a short time.  We were all a little quieter than normal and I think we all felt the peacefulness of the setting and enjoyed being together in the normal state of things:  the kids and mom, just having fun on an adventure.  It's the way I like it most.