This little, hidden garden has been on my list for a long time, and today, I finally made it there. Buried in the heart of the city behind and unassuming parking lot of Salvation Army, Green Spring Gardens is a gem of a place to visit! Gorgeous green grounds, little whimsical gardens and arbors, lovely benches under shady trees. Speaking of…
It didn’t take Gracie long to find a bench she liked, scrambled up, and made herself comfortable by jumping up and down immediately.
This morning, I was joined by two of my sweet friends – Amber & Marcia – with their littles. We liked this spot, so we just dropped our bags and let the kids run around for a while. Well, Gracie and Aurora. Jesse was too shy to leave the safety of his stroller 🙂 till his mama played with him.
Amber – my lovely, incredibly talented friend who just had a little doll for a baby girl! It was fun to have her join us!
This is Marcia – beautiful, talented, funny, and the mother of Aurora – my second child. No, seriously. If I am anywhere in the area, she will make a beeline towards me and want me to pick her up, or hold her hand, or sit on my lap. I love this little girl and it makes me feel like I had twins 🙂 Marcia is great about sharing her with me 🙂
It was the perfect weather for a stroll around beautiful gardens to take in all this beauty! Okay, so I love gardens 🙂 Bear with me and tell me you wouldn’t love to laze away a perfect morning in this place!
After a teeny bit of running around, it was time to bust out the snacks. Sharing time followed. These two!
Well, these two are multi-taskers: they can eat and explore at the same time! Basically, they followed me around as I took pictures of the garden. I didn’t mind having two little cute tykes underfoot.
Let me tell you why this picture below is one of my favorite ones, ever. 1) There are hardly any pictures of me and my baby together. 2) There are only a handful of pictures with me smiling in them. I mean, really smiling and showing my teeth 😀 3) Isn’t my little baby girl just such a doll and so happy? She is almost always like this!
Amber struggles with same syndrome I do – we love taking the pictures and are never in them. So, here she is just glowing with love for her cutie patootie, Ellie! Aren’t they both so beautiful?
Gracie had a blast trying on some sunglasses. I guess I should get her some of her own!
Adorable Ellie. She is just a little doll!
Aurora wanted Ellie to get up and join her and play.
The only picture I have of all three of them 🙂
A little more strolling. There is something about an unhurried passing of time, laughing and talking with your friends, with our adorable babies playing with each other, and absorbing the soothing effect that large expanses of green has on our psyche. It is magical.
I actually remembered to grab someone and have him take our picture! I loved spending time with these ladies. It is refreshing and reaffirms the fact that a woman will always need her girlfriends.
We ended our lovely time at the garden and started making our way back to the car. Gracie was a girl on a mission.
But, apparently, so was Aurora! She caught up with Gracie and snuck in a tight hug!
Oh, how I love watching these two play, share, cry, and basically enjoy their time together.
