OUR FIRST FIELD TRIP!!!!!

Today we went to the Taltree Arboretum & Gardens in Valparaiso. Yes, it was raining pretty hard. They do the tours even in the rain - as long as there isn't any lightening. So, we walked for over an hour through the rain. Sometimes it was pretty hard rain and a little muddy. Ask me if the kids had on new tennis shoes. If you are interested, you can check it out online at: http://www.taltree.org/. It is a gorgeous park. Here is the entrance to the park:

Elyse found out that glasses aren't too much fun in the rain - you need windshield wipers to enjoy the sites.

This is a fuzzy picture, but I took it because it is Zachary's favorite thing to eat: Cheddar pinks. Not the pink part, just the cheddar cheese part.

I also lost my cell phone. Zachary offered to re-walk the trail to find it, he didn't. Then we searched the car. Yes! There it is - under the front seat (phew! Don't be too angry at me, Dan-O.)

After the tour, we ate our lunch under the pavilion. It was nice and dry under there. While we were eating, Stevia noticed that the boys hadn't returned her car keys. You guessed it, the boys locked them in their van. So, we had to call Mr. Mahler (who happens to be working at home today) and had him bring an extra set of keys. Thanks, Dan-O, for the cell phone, we just used some of our minutes calling Mr. Mahler.

This is the view from the pavilion. Gorgeous!

On the way back to the car, we noticed that the inside of our shoes were wet. It took that long for the rain to soak through our shoes. The ride home in the car was pretty miserable.

All in all, it was a good day. We enjoyed getting together with friends and walking around a gorgeous garden.