Howard County offers many really nice parks that are a quick drive from our house. This summer weather has been awesome for spending time outdoors. One of our favorite parks, however, is located in Montgomery County in Wheaton, Maryland. Wheaton Regional Park is a huge park where you can take a ride on the train, go horseback riding, have a picnic, go fishing, ice skate or play ball, relax and tour Brookside Gardens' grounds and conservatory, attend a nature program, or walk the many miles of shaded trails. I found the park last year- and though I can't remember exactly how I stumbled across it- it has become one of our favorite treats for Jonathan. He is always asking to go to the Choo Choo Park. We even celebrated his second birthday here!
With my mom staying the weekend with me and babysitting my nephew, I thought it would be fun to go to the park- and maybe explore the trails and the gardens the park had to offer. It was a beautiful day so it would be great for the boys (and us!) to be outside. Of course- we had to stop by the train and carousel first!
After the train and carousel we walked along the path towards Brookside Gardens. It was less than a ten minute walk. We have never been here and the first part of the gardens we happened upon was the Kid's Garden! Perfect!
This garden is great for kids of all ages! It had fun places to explore, areas to learn, and even a tree house to climb up! I know they offer many education opportunities throughout the year here. Jonathan had a blast.
On our way back to towards the car we stopped by the play area because Jonathan wanted to swing and go down the slide. The playground is separated into two areas- one for big kids and one for little kids. The big kids play area is not like any park I went to growing up- with climbing walls, climbing mounds, climbing nets, and tall twisty slides- and looks like lots of fun. The little playground is perfect for Jonathan's age with just the right size slides and climbing gyms. It also has concrete animals to climb on and a giant sandbox to play in!
We always have so much fun at this park and with so much to do we keep coming back!! :)
Gosh! I can't believe how fast the time has been going! Its been a few weeks since I posted so I have some catching up to do! With both Joe and I working during the week, we try to take advantage of our weekends and do an "adventure" a few times a month. An adventure can be anything-- a train ride at the local park or a train ride on a big steam engine up in Pennsylvania, a trip to the aquarium or museum, or even a hike. The important part of our "adventures" is it is something special that we don't get to do everyday.
A few weekends ago we were trying to decide what to do. I have been wanting to go to the National Harbor in DC and check out the Children's Museum and new Carousel there, but there are very mixed reviews on the Children's museum and it was a little drizzly out- so probably wouldn't get the best views from the carousel... so we decided to go to the National Zoo in DC (thinking that since it was a drizzly day, maybe it wouldn't be that crowded on a Saturday in the Summer... we were wrong :) heh). One of the biggest perks of the DC Zoo is it is FREE!!
We hadn't been to the Zoo this year yet, and the last time that Jonathan went, he was a little over one year old. We had a blast and it wore him out, so we were looking forward to going again.
As you can see, Jonathan was most looking forward to seeing Zebras. We debated whether or not to take the Metro in (parking at the zoo is very limited and VERY expensive) or just find street parking. Since parking is free on weekends we decided to try to find street parking. Luckily I have a husband who is very familiar with that area and we were able to find a spot only a few blocks from the Zoo. The zoo opens pretty early (6:00am!), but a lot of the animals aren't out and the buildings don't open until 10:00am, so that is about the time we arrived.
When we first got there we decided to head to the Pandas so we could see the new baby Panda. As we were making our way there we stopped by the first animal we saw. As Jonathan was pointing out all the birds (not even part of the exhibit) a bee flew into his sandal and stung him!! Poor Jonathan started crying immediately. I took his shoe off and the bee was still in there. This being his first bee sting I of course initially worried about allergies, but luckily that was not the case. His foot got real red and a little swollen so we decided to head to the First Aid area to get an ice pack and make sure the stinger wasn't still in his foot and to see if there was anything else we could do. Unfortunately the First Aid Station is at the VERY END of the park!! It seemed to take FOREVER to get there. We got there and medic lady was real nice. Cleaned his foot and made sure the stinger wasn't in there. Then she put some numbing medicine there and gave us an ice pack. As we were leaving another little girl was coming in with bee sting. By the time we finished that adventure I felt like it was time to leave!!
Just down from the First Aid Station was the Kid's Farm where they can see- and even touch- cows, donkeys, goats, alpacas, and hogs.
After the Kid Farm we headed to American Trail. This was our favorite area of the zoo from last year. We loved watching the California Sea Lions and Jonathan LOVED the little tide pool area where you can play in the water and watch the "tide" go in and out.
Even Zachary enjoyed himself a little bit! He loved splashing in the water.
Unlike last year, though, Jonathan seemed a little scared of the "tidal wave" that would come and fill the area with water (you can see last year's video here. It was much more crowded this year and lots of the kids would scream when the water came out so I think that freaked him out just a little bit.
As we were leaving we stopped to see the lions, elephants, zebras, monkeys, birds, and of course the carousel. We were a little rushed since it had taken so long to get down to the First Aid station and now it was WAAAAYY past nap time and the kiddos were reaching their limit!
By the time we got back to the car, mom, dad, and the kids were pooped from such a fun and long morning at the zoo!
You can tell how tired he is as I'm trying to keep him awake. I was unsuccessful and he fell asleep within minutes of me filming that video! ;)
