Flower Power

We started the week by reading one of my favorite books for kids. It's a cute story, perfect for reading aloud, about a mouse named Chrysanthemum who loves her name ("Chrysanthemum thought her name was absolutely perfect.") , hates her name ("'If I had a name like yours, I'd change it', said Victoria."), then loves it again ("Chrysanthemum did not think her name was perfect. She knew it."). Hailey and Makayla loved the book, too.

Next we made yarn chrysanthemums. I remember Mom teaching me to make these when we still lived in West Mountain.

We turned them into bracelets.

We counted the letters in everybody's name (Chrysanthemum, Hailey, Makayla, and Grandma) and graphed our findings. I totally borrowed this idea off of the internet. (How did we raise children without benefit of the internet??) I wish I had a better picture of the project--Hailey really got into it and was fascinated by the idea of graphing.

Today we continued our flower theme by going in search of chrysanthemums to enjoy. Of course, it isn't chrysanthemum season, so we settle for a visit to Dan Walt Gardens. This is actually a private residence on about 2 or 3 acres that has beautifully landscaped grounds. They let people wander around for a very small fee.

They are famous for their iris, but have many other flowers and things to look at. I suggested to the girls that we find our favorite things and take a picture.

Before long, they wanted to be the one taking pictures of what they loved, so I handed over my aim-and-shoot camera and let them go wild. It took a little practice to keep fingers out of shots.

Picture by Hailey

Picture by Makayla.

 I realized when I got home that their pictures were actually really good- they were taking them at their eye level and that was exactly the right vantage point.

Picture by Hailey. 

The garden has various frogs sprinkled around, and the girls were thrilled to spot each one.

Picture by Hailey

Picture by Makayla.

Picture by Makayla.

 Picture by Hailey.

Picture by Makayla.

Picture by Makayla.

Picture by Hailey

Picture by Makayla.

This is a real, growing plant

 or maybe it's a wig

or perhaps a hat?

The hit of the visit was the chicken coop. I know that because there were 63 pictures taken by Hailey and Makayla of the chickens.

These baby chicks hatched today.

These guys could use a haircut.

Mr. Walt himself wandered by and gave the girls a handful of worms to feed to the chickens. 

Aren't they appetizing?

Makayla, looking for an especially deserving chicken for her last 2 worms.

Free souvenirs! I'm sure it's clean and sterile, right?

Picture by Hailey

 

 Picture by Makayla

 Picture by Makayla

Makayla was excited to recognize white bleeding hearts. I've been trying to teach the girls the names of all the flowers in my own garden. I only have pink bleeding hearts.

 Hailey, self-portrait

Picture by Hailey

Picture by Makayla

Picture by Hailey

 Picture by Makayla

Picture by Hailey

Picture by Makayla

Way to obey the sign, Hailey!

After several hours spent wandering in the hot sun, we made a quick stop on the way home. 

Makayla wanted me to take a picture of this handy thing she thinks her mom would like to have at their table. This, by the way, is DQ's idea of a kid sized ice cream cone.

Don't worry Amy, in addition to a dose of calcium,  I made sure they had their vegetables--onions for Makayla, potatoes for Hailey.