Morton Arboretum

An adventure day.

Nels received free tickets to the Morton Arboretum through his work.   We decided we better hurry and go before it's too cold or snowy.  So November 3 we loaded everyone up to go visit the Arboretum.  When we arrived there was a loooooong line of cars waiting to get in.  We almost left!  But I'm glad we stuck it out.  While we waited in line, I fed the kids lunch in the car.  We finally got parked and were able to explore this cool place.  

It was bring your dog day.  So many dogs.  We counted the dogs.  We officially counted about 60, but we probably saw close to 100!  It was fun to see all the different doggies.  I like them from a distance.  😀

We went to the children's play area first.  There was an awesome maze, some unique children's playground stuff - like climbing on top of an acorn, over tree roots, log houses and musical flowers.

Here's Kira and Sofie running through the maze.

Nels and Noah trailed behind.

Here's a view of the maze.

There was a tree you could climb up so you could look out over the maze and find your way.

That's the lookout tree.

The kids liked the maze.

Here's Kira with the giant water can.  There were just cool things like this scattered throughout the area.

Sofie and Noah fought over this toy.  They did not want to take turns turning it.  Noah was a little possessive.

Just thought this was pretty.

Kira does a pretty good job of watching out and helping Sofie.  

The giant acorn.

Sofie threw two tantrums and was so mad...I don't remember why.

I got a picture with Isak.

Nels "resting."

After the children's area, we went to the visitor center and a person helped us figure out what to do next.  We went to the souvenir shop. I bought a magnet.  I splurged and bought a fancy silver leaf Christmas ornament.  Then we got in the car and drove around the park to find trolls.

We found 3 huge trolls and the troll's hideout.  Here's one of the trolls.

The trolls are huge!

We put all four in the trolls mouth.  I love this pic.  I think it's so funny.

Here's troll number two that we saw.

And troll number 3.

Nels and Noah walking to find the trolls.

We took a short hike to find the troll hideout.

Pretty fun place with a big pot, big house, big spoon and a game and big baskets.

Mmmm, three kids for dinner.  haha.

Isak with the big spoon.

Noah checking out some of the stuff.

Here's the house.  There was a big drum for the kids to bang on.

Here's the story of how the trolls came to be.

Ah! Me and Kira are for dinner.

Then we drove around the loop of the park.  We enjoyed the gorgeous gold leaves!  So perfect.  Some leaves were gently fluttering down.  I loved it.

I'm so glad we got out enjoyed the beauty of the earth.  There was some whining...maybe more than I care to remember, but overall I enjoyed our time out.  Thankfully, the whining and complaining fade to the background of the memory so I remember the beauty and the fun of the adventure.

I think it was a fun place to explore and I would definitely go back to visit again.