Vacation Part Two

The rest of our visit was filled with lovely park days, the zoo and a great fine arts museum.  We spent a wonderful afternoon at the Shakespeare gardens.  The kids loved the sculptures and feeding the geese, ducks, and cranes.








Allthough this park was lovely, it had one downfall -- it was infested with fire ant hills.  If you have no experience with fire ants, consider yourself blessed.  We didn't have any serious run-ins with them this time around but experienced them when we were stationed at Fort Bragg. 


On the property of the same park was the Fine Arts Museum of Montgomery.  It was wonderful and FREE!  I was raised in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (literally, my Mom took me to the museum several times a month and my Dad and Stepmother worked there, so I visited them often).  I can honestly say that this museum was of that quality.  They did not have as many art works from famous artists, of course, but they had a children's wing.  The children's wing was filled with interactive exhibits.  The kids didn't want to leave even after 2.5 hours.  Now that's a hit!











Another day we visited Grandma's Attic in the Archives Building.  This is a wonderful off-the-beaten trail FREE activity.  It was nice to have some downtime and let the kids explore the many discovery boxes and enjoy the dress-up area.  See my sweet little bride?





As I said earlier, one of the reasons we picked this location for vacation was to see my dear friend.  We spent a wonderful afternoon at the zoo with her and her kids.  The Montgomery Zoo is a bit small but does a great job of showing off its animals.  My kids also loved the train ride that gives you a nice overview of the park.  It was great to see my friend and to meet each other's children, those who had been born since we last saw each other.  The lions were wonderful because they roared a lot of the time.  They also had several baby giraffes, my favorite animal.

The best part was going there during the off season.  Montgomery was like a ghost town.  We had most of the museums to ourselves, and there were no crowds anywhere.  Well, that was the end of our fun, so I will leave you with one last pic...our little prairie girl complete with Dad's sunglasses on the way home.