Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Yesterday was a very full day for Dino Man and me. We started off with a MOPS meeting followed by lunch with Daddy-O. Then headed to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I had a groupon for the Arboretum I needed to use, so thought we'd kill a few hours looking at flowers.

What happened instead was a glorious afternoon of nature play for Dino Man and myself.

 He loved the little playhouse and spent some time fixing dinner for us. Thankfully he doesn't expect me to go whole hog and actually eat his sticks and leaves soup. As long as I keep up the pretending, he's happy.

He found a stick shaped like a Y at one end and a P at the other. He's starting to dictate when he wants me to take a picture, so I took a picture of his Y stick for him.

 He loves getting his picture made with Mommy! He keeps getting closer to the camera though to look at himself before the picture is taken. This cracks me up and leaves me with many pictures of my forehead and his nose.

 When we visited Colorado Springs this summer we visited the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center where Dino Man used paint brushes to brush away dirt and "find" dinosaur bones. Apparently this had a huge impact on him because the instant he saw the paint brushes he went hunting for "more dinosaur bones." Although we never found any, we had loads of fun hunting.

 Back to the playhouse!

This particular area was designed of all natural semi-built fort structures. I have to say of all the areas we've been to play here in the Twin Cities. This Green Play Yard at the Arboretum is the best.

They also had a Children's Garden which is planted, grown, and harvested by area school children. After walking around it, I was a bit disappointed in my own attempts at gardening in the past. These kids had HUGE flowers and vegetables. We even got to see a small garter snake disappear under some vines.

The final section we visited was their tropical greenhouse where kids can be hands on with the plants. Dino Man really enjoyed touching all the different kinds of leaves and even feeling, carefully, the spiky cacti available. We smelled some lemon balm and rosemary and were able to "water" the plants with spray bottles designed for just that purpose.

We drove around a 3-mile trail loop afterward to see the rest of the Arboretum and I must say, I'm convinced we need to go back, and maybe even buy a membership next year! Especially since they host regular homeschool days throughout the year.