June 2, 2018

Summer Fun: Arboretum with Friends

Now that Memorial Day has passed and it is HOT outside, we are in full summer fun gear.  We've had play dates and afternoons at the water table and swimming and all kinds of fun.  We don't have any specific plans or agenda for this summer, we just want to show Cooper some new things and enjoy the first summer of him running around.

One of our first summer activities was a trip to the Dallas Arboretum with some friends.  A few girls in our small group have memberships, so they were generous to invite us to get in with their membership on Friday.  I've taken Cooper to the Arboretum in the Fall and the Spring and even though it's not technically summer yet, it definitely felt like a summer trip this time!
The Arboretum has started "Family Fun Fridays" for the summer and yesterday was the first one.  They had face painting and a petting zoo so we stopped there first.  This was the best picture I could get of Cooper because he was so enthralled with the sheep and goats.  As soon as he saw the sheep he ran up to it and was just saying "baa" over and over again.  Then he finally reached out and petted the goat.  

He didn't want to leave the petting zoo, but we moved on to the Children's Garden.  We hadn't gone to the Children's Garden the last time so it was fun exploring it. 

We started in the fountain area by the entrance.  This was Cooper's first visit to a splash pad of any kind, so he was a little hesitant of the water at first.  I would tell him he could go splash and he was just say splash splash over and over but not go in.  So I then helped him get closer to it and then he was a big fan!

Then we moved on to another play area with more water features as well as some slides and houses to explore.  As you can see, he was loving these.

Cooper was the first to wander away from the main part with the splashing mushrooms and he found this other little "creek" of water.  It was just running water and nothing splashing high and he loved walking through it.  

He loves to climb and slide so we of course had to try that out several times too!

A few more rounds splashing and then it was time to go!  We changed into dry clothes and headed to lunch.  Cooper fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.

It was a great morning with friends!  I am so thankful for our new small group and the friends we've made at our church.  When we changed churches one of the things we were hoping and praying for was to find friends in our life stage who lived near us and God has provided that above and beyond what we could have imagined in such a short time.  I'm looking forward to continuing to do life with these friends and all the fun Cooper will have with their kids!

1 comment:

Amy said...

How fun that the kids get to be in with the animals! I guess that's what a petting zoo is, but I just have this mental image of all the fences at the state fair. I'm glad to hear you're making connections at church! Definitely an answer to prayer.