Bike Riding and Maymont Park (Part 1 of trip to Virginia)

Abbie riding her bike

Paw-paw Tom with Sophie and Abbie

Abbie and Sophie looking cool

bears at play

 

our gang at the Japanese gardens at Maymont Park

us with the waterfall

Mimi and Sophie (not sure what they are doing)

Sophie and Abbie in the beautiful gardens

the girls with Paw-paw Tom and Mimi

Abbie as I try to hand the butterfly off to her

Sophie holding a butterfly (no,there's really not one sitting on her head). =)

 

A little over 2 weeks ago, our family headed up to east TN and then on up to Richmond, VA to visit Matt's family.  We arrived in Richmond on Friday, June 15, just after Matt's mom, Teresa, finished the school year.  For the first couple of days after we arrived, it was so nice because the temperatures were much cooler there than at home.  The highs were only in the upper 70's and low to mid 80's.  The first few nights, it was so cool that I could have used a jacket.  The girls enjoyed riding their bikes some in the cul-de-sac where Matt's family lives.  With Paw-paw Tom's help Sophie learned to ride her bike independently without training wheels (finally).  We were so happy!

On Saturday, we all headed out to Maymont Park to enjoy the beautiful day.  We saw a variety of animals, walked around and enjoyed the gardens, and had a picnic lunch.  We really enjoyed being able to see the bears playing really near to where we were.  The girls loved walking across the large stepping stones in the middle of the pond (in the Japanese garden).  I was just praying that no one fell into the water.  They were also having a special event that day at the park called the Bumblebee Jamboree (what a fun name, huh?).  Anyway, they had crafts for the kids to do, educational stuff, a puppet show, etc.  We were able to go into a tent and see some butterflies up close and we all had a chance to hold them.  It was a fun day.