Just One Reason

If you needed just one reason to live in Silver Spring, MD, it would be Brookside Gardens and Wheaton Regional (they are connected). Though we had ventured here from time to time for activities and fun, I never realized how many things could really keep you busy. This week, Dylan was taking an art class at Brookside. It required the rest of us to hang out for 1 1/2 hours - not enough time to head home or do anything else. At first I thought, how will I keep the other two entertained. Well, it didn't take long to find that answer. On Monday (and every day), we visited the Children's Garden - which included a small tree house that they could go in, boxes filled with dirt and tools for digging and pieces of wood and clay to build, we then decided to head to the large pond - we saw turtles, geese, butterflies, dragonflies. Brookside also has a prayer labryinth. We talked about the things we could pray and think about prior to walking it. Day 2, we went to the butterfly house, tried to name the species and hoped that some would actually land on us. Day 3, we walked over to the nature center, unfortunately for us, they were in the midst of a bug camp so we weren't able to explore all they had. Day 4, went to Wheaton Regional and rode the train and carousel. And finally on day 5, we went exploring to the other ponds at Brookside in hopes of finding a snake! No, we didn't find any BUT Connor and Austin each had a clipboard with paper and pencil and were totally focused on sketching all the wildlife they happened upon - turtles, geese, trees, tadpoles, and lots of chipmunks! One day, there were volunteers doing science projects in the garden with the kids. Dylan had a great time at camp as the class also got to walk through the gardens in search of things to draw and paint. I never thought we could spend so much time and so many days at the same place, but I'm happy to say we could, we did and I'm thankful its right by our house!

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