Dad and the Boys hit up the Garden

Dad had a few days at the beach with his co-workers and on his return Mom needed some time to catch up.  So it was off to the Botanical Gardens for a boys outing.  The gardens are all setup for fall and Halloween with a scare crow contest (more than 100 scare crows are spread throughout the gardens to which Carter found both curious and at time hilarious).  They also had a number of fun games for the littlest ones throughout the children's garden.  Carter did very well at the pumpkin throw getting the first two baskets on the first try.

He also wanted to take a picture with the Wizard of Oz cast, but since Dad was solo, he couldn't get the boost he needed.

With all the special activities going on, he still visited some old favorites, like the cow brushing his teeth.

Carter even managed to overcome some fear and stay still for his first skin painting, a pumpkin on his hand.

Carter was very interested in the water features throughout the park and made us stop at each pond

waterfall

and all the fountains looking for fish, frogs, or turtles.  Luckily he found many during our travels.  When not looking at the water, we were again finding more activities to grab our interest.  Carter made a great raccoon hat and then checked out all the gourds.  He did a great job helping put them into the correct baskets after some other little boys accidentally mixed them up.

Check out the hat!

Parker had a great time as well.  He hung out in the baby carrier on Dad's chest the whole morning.  He loved reaching out to all the plants, chasing Carter and watching all the goings on.  Unfortunately that made for limited picture opportunities.  Here is his hand reaching for some soft yellow flowers.

The boys all had a great time, and all came back exhausted and ready for a well earned nap