Pre-raphaelites meet Preschool

We got a late start this morning. The adults were up late because J convinced me that the pain I was having was kidney stones and I was freaking out about how on earth I was going to down 6 cans of coke and a bunch of asparagus when I can't even stomach a SIP of cola. Then E decided to wake up 2 hours early and I spent an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep. I did it, but then we all slept in.

We rushed around and made it out of the house at 11:20 but had to go back because I forgot the camera. When B said "I have everything all ready." I assumed he had everything all ready in the backpack. He meant that he had found the backpack and I could fill it up.

We made it to the Japanese gardens at about noon. We tumbled on to the shuttle and I finished packing the backpack and dressing E on the way up the hill... then I remembered we left the camera in the car.

The garden was breathtaking as usual, it never ceases to amaze me how carefully laid out that garden is yet it looks so natural. Everything is taken care of so nicely. It was a little colder than we would have liked and apparently March is not the time to go. I had scheduled the trip to coincide with the cherry tree in the center of the garden being in bloom, but we had a 2 week 70 degree stretch earlier this month. It must have brought on the blossoms early because we had a tree of half spent blossoms and new leaves. Also they must trim the irises in the winter because the Zig-Zag path was just a path in a big plot of mud with a few green shoots coming up. We couldn't figure out why they frosted the glass so that you can't look in the tea house, and the koi were not in the waterfall pond but hiding in the other pond all in a huddle.

The azaleas were just beginning to bloom so the bushes had lovely little pink buds all over them, very nice. The moss was everywhere, I love moss.
C and I kept finding things that were shaped like moons. He stated telling us where different stone lanterns came from. "That came 100 years ago from a japanese rocket", "That is 2 weeks old from a chinese rocket" and so on.
E walked the WHOLE garden along the rough stone paths, up and down the rugged stairs. He had a great time. He was quite offended when I saved the stone Zen garden from his intended toddler footprints.

There were 2 adorable pictures I wish I could have taken. One was of C, after having wandered off he thought he was lost and sat down on the stair of the main building overlooking the city with his elbows on his knees and chin in hands and sat there looking so dejected and adorable! The other was of B carrying E down the hill and E snuggled up on his shoulder.

We made our way downtown found the parking garage and walked to the art museum. There was an exhibit of art from the Native Americans of the Columbia river, it had carvings and baskets and beadwork. There was also a Pre-raphaelite exhibit - be still my beating heart! B and I had a great time, J was bored, E wanted to get off my back and touch everything and C was bored, however he did remark that he wished he has paper and something to color with. He likes to copy pictures that other people have made. He was inspired and I wished we could have taken advantage of it. Perhaps someday we can get someone to watch E and we can go alone with C and let him draw.

Outside the museum C pointed out a building with lots of flags flying and he said that the one with stripes and stars was his favorite. My patriotic soul was so proud. Of course he isn't sure what the flag stands for yet, and I am SURE I knew the pledge by heart by the time I was 4. I guess that is something we can work on.

We wandered around downtown in a dazed stupor looking for something to eat as it was now 3 and of course no one had eaten yet. There were surprisingly few eating establishments in the near vicinity of the museum. We stumbled into a hero sandwich shop and ate like ravenous beasts. Everyone thought that it was wicked cool because there were computers hooked up to the wireless internet that they have downtown.

When we got home we got a call that our entertainment center and bookshelves are in. I was so excited but then realized the walls weren't painted yet so I rushed out and bought some paint and spent the evening painting. Blessings to the guy at the paint store that spent 50 minutes trying to get just the right shade of green for me. It looks great, kinda like moss. I love moss!