Fernwood

On Thursday, my friend Carissa, her two sons, Hunter and I spent a wonderful day enjoying nature at a place called Fernwood.  It is a botanical garden just over the Michigan border.  The reason we both thought our sons would love it is that Fernwood has built a special garden that showcases trains.  It has 3 different tracks that run G-scale (I think) trains amidst beautiful plants and buildings made to look like landmarks from the surrounding area.  There are lighthouses from Lake Michigan, the golden dome of Notre Dame, and the old Niles train depot.  Plus there are plenty of bridges, tunnels, and even a waterfall.  It was not as big as we originally thought, but the boys didn't care.  They still went nuts!  They would just run around and through it watching the trains.  The volunteer would stop one train each time around and add a new car.  The boys would watch him run the controls in his little shed.  He showed them where all the cars and engines "sleep"; then they would run out to see how the train had changed and ask us what the new car was carrying.  A classic sign that Hunter was too excited for words is that in several pictures he is clenching his fists.  For those of you who have spent any time around him, you know that when his excitement is producing so much energy that he just doesn't know what to do with himself, he rotates his wrists and wiggles his fingers, clenching and unclenching his fists. 

'Baby Chad' (although not a baby anymore at almost 18 months) found the mulch exciting too.

I loved this butterfly bush, and so did the frogs we later found out.  We actually saw one jump up and gulp down a little butterfly.

The whole gang watching a train go by.

Pointing out the frog sitting on the covered bridge next to the butterfly bush, a very advantageous spot for some lunch.

Then we went hiking through the woods' trails that lead out to the St. Joe River and back.  It was fun watching the little one trying to do just what the big boys did.  I didn't take any pictures while hiking because frankly it was all the moms could do to keep up.

I couldn't even get them to really smile because they had found another trail and were so anxious to get going.  At least they looked at me for two seconds!

We ate a picnic lunch.  Of course, the boys hardly ate, so while the moms finished their lunch, the boys plotted out where we should go next using the map that was given to us.  They really had fun in the nature center too. It was one of our last stops, and by then I was forgetting to take pictures.  They got to see the animals that live at Fernwood (stuffed versions, of course, which was really interesting trying to explain since they kept asking if they were real or alive.)  They got to touch fox, coyote, muskrat, and beaver furs, and use binoculars to watch birds and squirrels at feeders just outside observation windows.  They also saw bees inside a hive and a monarch butterfly chrysalis that was ready to hatch in the next hours or day (You could see the wings all formed and the casing was very thin.).  Overall it was a very fun day of memories with good friends.