Wonder

Yes, parenthood is filled with challenges -- most of which I'm still blissfully clueless about. Fortunately, though, we as parents get a lot in return for those challenges. One of my favorite benefits of mommyhood is seeing the wonder in the eyes of my baby girl.

Frankly, I think the adults found a little wonder, too, when we went to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota last week. I mean, just check out how gorgeous this place is.



I loved watching Lily's face as she took in everything around us. She was loving it -- except when she rounded a corner and came upon a lizard. At first she was freaked out by it, but after a while, she was looking for them and calling them "bubba."

Lily got the chance to see all kinds of new, cool things.


And my husband got the chance to be a goofball.

Then we found the Koi pond! I had this brilliant idea that Monday would be a great day to go because it would be less crowded. That much was true, but Monday is also the ONE day of the week that you can't feed the fish.
But the fish still know that people=food, so they came right up and waited for it. Especially Mr. Piggy here.

Even with all that new stuff to see, Daddy snuck in some cuddles.

And Nana did, too.

But, of course, every explorer gets tired eventually.