olbrich gardens in the winter

my office was closed today, as were the kids' schools, but marta's office was not.  so, the kids and i had one of those somewhat rare days where it is just the three of us.  i polled the troops this morning, and a trip to olbrich botanical garden  was selected as our morning adventure.  winter might seem like an odd time to take a trip to an outdoor garden, but a quick review of our blog reveals that 2/3 of all our blogged about excursions to olbrich have been in the winter.  it's really a lovely time to go: the trails are cleared of snow, the grounds are just as beautiful as when in bloom, and there is almost no one there.  the kids ran with total abandon and turned down any path they chose. they acted almost as crazy as they wanted to, and there was no reason to try and stop them.

ramona drags james down our driveway to depart for the trip (no snow, no problem).

 the kids debate whether that statue is a leaf or turtle.  

 run, run, run, run, snow angel.

 to the tower!

 ramona admires the thai pavillion that marta and i first visited just before ramona was due to be born (she wouldn't be born for another two weeks). 

 james checks out the undercarriage on that elephant.

 tree huggers.

 hand holders.

 crazy makers.

it's so much fun seeing them play together more and more these days.