Terriffic Treehouses at Tyler Arboretum

Since we have been enjoying all of the Magic Treehouse books, we decided to visit our local arboretum to see their treehouse exhibit. The girls were especially excited to see and climb in several of them.

They loved the giant frog statues on the lawn!

Here's a beautiful rhodedendron thicket (or whatever you call it). It would be a great place to play in the shade! Lots of room for the imagination!

They gave me such a lovely pose in the Lenape Indian wigwam. :) They did think it was neat to see the long bark strips and to think that whole families lived in huts like these.

Lots of "Tree" Houses

Darsie especially had trouble with the hammocks and had to be extricated from one of them. She tried out another one and found it to be much better. :)


Here, the girls peer from a little "Cape May Birdhouse" treehouse.

We found the "treegloo" to be interesting.

Liam enjoyed much of the hike perched on Matt's back. He especially liked it when Matt would bounce up and down.

My and Matt's favorite tree house - very comfy! If only we had trees in our yard! The girls have never been in a hammock before, so it was a bit comical as they had to figure out how to get in and out of one.

Bells

This exhibit was pretty cool, with cowbells rigged hanging from the tree and ropes you could pull to ring them. All three kids really enjoyed it and would have stayed far longer than we did if we weren't hot and tired by then.

Build Your Own "Treehouse"

The girls especially enjoyed the build-your-own treehouse exhibit. Katy even impressed us by carrying an entire log (not just a stick!) in her arms by herself, though she quickly became concerned, saying that it was really heavy.

Levers and Such

The girls tried to lift this larger log, but they decided it was too heavy. Ever resourceful (and having learned it from watching Curious George), they turned two other smaller and lighter sticks into levers to push the log across the ground. Who says television isn't good for kids??!! :)

Liam, meanwhile, was glad to get a chance to sit on the ground. He happily crawled off after a crayon that had rolled down the path a bit and then, to my surprise, proceeded to try to color on the path with it. Amazing the things you learn from your older siblings! He was proud of his catch and wanted everyone else to admire it as well.

Love Note

Home Depot.....

Here are the girls, dressed as Home Depot employees. Notice that Katy even made a name tag for herself (and Darsie, and Liam, and her stuffed dog and .....)...
They had Katy's cash register out and every single book pulled off of their bookshelf (I guess that's what their Home Depot sells). Gotta go help them figure out how to clean up now....

Ahoy!!

This morning, Matt had to leave early to help friends move into a new home. It seemed a great opportunity to have some fun time with the girls. So, we packed up and headed to Home Depot together (the girls asking why we were going to Home Depot for a fun time). Home Depot has free (!) kids clinics the first Saturday of every month, with projects for them to make (using real tools!), aprons for them to wear and pins to put on the apron for each project completed. I found out about this from my college roommate, Kate, whose kids did this earlier in the spring. Thanks, Kate!
Well, the girls LOVED it! They got to hammer and use real nails (Katy was especially excited about the real nails, not just toy ones like she plays with at her friend's house!). Katy did great at following the picture directions step by step, and she hammers pretty well for a kid who has never done it before! Darsie needed a little help, but she was engrossed in it the whole time. After a loud hammering time, they came home with beautiful catamarans (you can see them below). I will post another picture after the paint dries on them (that's what we did when we got home).
And what are they doing now, after such a fun adventure? The girls are in their room wearing their aprons and playing Home Depot. :)