Raulston Arboretum

Our next summer theme week was "The Secret Garden." So of course we visited a few gardens, starting with the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. We walked around and admired all the blooms, had a picnic, and then headed out before we melted in the heat. We stopped at Pelican's Snoballs for the perfect treat to cool us off.

Arboretum with Grandma and Grandpa

We had a fun visit with Ben's parents. On their first day here, we enjoyed a walk around the Raulston Arboretum and saw so many beautiful flowers and trees in bloom. We went out to lunch afterward and then enjoyed an evening at home.

 A game of Life outside.

 Black bean salad for our Cinco de Mayo feast (a day late).

Perfect weather for outdoor dining. (Pre-humidity.)

arboretum + salted chocolate chunk cookies

A quick walk around the arboretum on Arbor Day.

Not the best photos, but these salted chocolate chunk cookies are a new favorite. Recipe found HERE.

 

arboretum + beach

The kids had the day off on Good Friday. We had a picnic lunch at the Arboretum and participated in their fun Easter egg scavenger hunt. They had giant eggs hidden around the garden with different letters. You had to find all the eggs and then unscramble the letters to figure out the secret word. (Magnolia!) They were rewarded with their own bag of seeds. The kids loved running around looking for eggs. Oliver was a little stressed out about being the first one to find every egg. I loved having the girls join us on an adventure. Later in the afternoon we headed to Jordan Lake for some play time on the beach. Ben was able to join us which always makes things more fun (and easier on me).

magnolias at the arboretum

Another beautiful spring walk around the Raulston Arboretum. This time the magnolias were in full bloom and lots of daffodils and red buds were blooming. Amelia had stayed home from school because she had a headache (although I think she just wanted to get another day of spring break and I don't blame her) but Elsa was happy to go to school because she had a class picnic that day.

We found this poor injured bird.

Wrestling.