Well, today’s plans went a totally different way than I had — planned.
Last night, I was studying more about metamorphosis, and what the Bible says about it. I thought I would talk to the kids about it today.
Then Emma asked if we could make lily pads to put in the tadpole tank. I didn’t know what she meant at first, but then I thought about the colored foam sheets that we bought at Hobby Lobby. I told her she could make a few, and I set Fiona to the task of helping her make them while I read some chapters of “The Giver” to the big kids.
That kept all of the littles occupied for quite a while. They made about 19 of them. I let them put 3 of them in the tadpole tank. I didn’t want the tadpoles to drown in lily pads.
I still felt pretty energetic after reading to the big kids, and I was thinking about lily pads, so my mind turned to the Nelson Water Gardens, a neat place that I had read about that is nearby. It has little backyard ponds set up with lily pads and fish and fountains and lots of flowers and accessories for gardens.
So I told the younger kids we were going to go see some ponds with lily pads and fish and little ponds, and we were off!
The blue pot behind the kids is a disappearing fountain, which Nelson’s Water Gardens is known for. You can choose your own pot or rock or other structure, and they can turn it into a disappearing fountain. They are very beautiful. The water runs over the outside of the structure then gathers at the bottom and the water is sent back up to the top inside of the pot or whatever and just keeps flowing. And you hear the sound of running water. Very nice!
They make fountains from decorative pots, statues, waterfalls, stones, etc. They even made one out of a garbage can to prove a point!
Their favorite activity of the day: feeding the fish.
Look at those huge lily pads! Those things are real. They are growing out of a submerged pot in the middle of the pond.
There’s a dragonfly on the corner of the metal bench. I couldn’t see what I was taking pictures of because of the bright sun. We were sweating so bad, we felt like we were melting. It was 100 degrees! We had so much fun!!!
Kelsey and the frog she’s standing behind are both wearing their hats backward. If you click on the picture and then click on the magnifying glass, you can see the frog’s hat.
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"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
