Thanksgiving Point Gardens

My friend and neighbor, Kristen, invited Maya, Aliyah and I to Thanksgiving Point's Gardens for the Tulip Festival (which is over, but the tulips were in bloom!) The girls had a great time and Maya loves spending time with her friend, Gracie. Maya making a wish! Well, I'm not sure if she actually made a wish, but she had a fun time dropping the penny in! :)
There were so many beautiful flowers there, but my favorite were the purple pansies. My dad used to tell me that pansies reminded him of his dad (who had passed away when he was a teenager). Now that my father has passed away, I also have a special love for pansies.

Maya LOVED playing in the water (maybe even more than looking at the flowers!) I knew she was ready to start swimming again when she asked if she could swim in the fountain! Nope...sorry!!

This is Aliyah's "smile." Well, not really, but whenever I asked her to smile today she made this face. Too funny!

The waterfalls were magnificent as well.

And, one final picture...this one is from last weekend, the morning after Ken and Maya's daddy-daughter date. Dad took her to Build-a-Bear, where they made this stuffed "doggee" together and the next morning she wanted ribbons and pigtails like the dog! :)

Is there anyting more beautiful...

than a great-grandmother cuddling her grandchild?


Maya, Aliyah and I were able to spend a morning with Grandmother Cahoon (Ken's maternal grandmother) and his Aunt Carol. We had a wonderful visit and it is always so much fun and so inspiring to visit with Grandmother.
And the girls had SO much fun playing with Aunt Carol. They would hide underneath a desk and pretend to be monsters! Then, they would come out and scare her! They just laughed and laughed!



Oh, and did I mention that Carol fixed us fresh fruit smoothies and sandwiches on homemade bread!?!?! YUM! (which, by the way she cut into triangles just for Maya and Aliyah!) It was a wonderful morning!