Arboretum with my boys...

Sunday morning dawned with heavy rain, wind and thunder.  Banner slept in until after nine, and it was so wonderful to listen to the sound of the rain on the roof while still snuggled in bed.

When the B-Man finally started to stir, however, I went to the kitchen to let the dogs out, and noticed that the morning air was cool and breezy.  Something exceptionally rare around these parts in (almost) the middle of June.  Wanting to soak up the last bit of spring before summer arrived later that afternoon, we were dressed and at the Arboretum less than an hour later.

Because spring/early summer is one of the busiest times of the year for me at the museum, poor Banner has only been to the Arboretum two or three times since April, and not with his daddy since we initially purchased the membership back in February.  It is amazing to me to realize just how much he has grown and developed in four short months.  He is leaps and bounds more coordinated, inquisitive and active at seventeen months than he was at thirteen months.  I know this seems like an obvious development, but it still blows my mind how fast my baby has grown and changed over the course of the spring.  And nothing seemed to exemplify this more to me than the fact that we left both the stroller and the wagon at home and simply let Banner loose to run around the grounds for nearly TWO HOURS.

Have I mentioned my son has A LOT of energy?  It is getting harder and harder to wear his little tush out!

Banner called the horse apple a "Bapple".
He thought it was a "ball" but we kept calling it an "apple".
Bapple was a nice compromise.

We visited the little houses, but didn't stay long (it was super muddy thanks to all the rain).  Plus, Banner lost his balance trying to take off his hat, and fell into a thorny rose bush.  The back of his little arm was all scratched up, but he hardly cried at all.  He obviously has my pain tolerance.  Trevor would have required a morphine shot.

We walked around the main part of the Arboretum, stopping every few minutes to splash in fountains, climb up and down stairs and chase squirrels and bunnies.  I don't know if the garden animals normally allow people to get so close to them, but Banner greatly enjoyed giving them chase around (and through) many of the beds.  We even saw a highly annoyed raccoon who was chased out of his tree by a group of three highly pissed off squirrels.  Poor thing looked so grumpy (so would I if I had been so rudely roused from a deep sleep in the middle of the night day!) as he stomped off into the bushes.

We ended our morning at the giant frogs playing in the water.  Banner was fascinated by the fountain and loved splashing around and getting wet.  I think he could have happily played there for hours.  He is turning into such a little water bug.  I have a feeling that in a few years, every spare summer moment will be spent in, near or on the water.

My boys.

It was a good day.