The Trees: National Arboretum's Conifer Collection and Bonsai Museum

As you might have noticed, we've been spending a considerable amount of time at the National Arboretum.  We need lots of fresh air and exercise daily or else we all start to really lose it.  And playgrounds have just not been cutting it lately (Kane's style of "play" isn't always a big hit and I like them, but I'm just as happy doing something else).  Plus the Arb gives us a good place to practice "listening" to mom (when she says stop or calls us to come back) and a good place for mom to practice letting us explore on our own a bit (inevitably Kane and I take off in different directions).  On our last trip we focused on two areas: (1) the Conifer Collection, which was new to us; and (2) the Bonsai Museum, which is a good one to visit now before it gets too hot out.  The Conifer Collection was perfect for us -- big, grassy paths winding through what seems like an endless variety of conifers that we imagined were all kinds of things.  And a wooden gazebo at the top of a big hill overlooking it all served as a perfect pirate ship to take a little rest -- good thing Kane was in full pirate regalia.  The only thing mom didn't like was that this section of the Arb is close to NY avenue, so you can hear (and sometimes see) a lot of traffic.  But that didn't bother us one bit.  

We had to head back to the visitor center for a quick bathroom break and we decided to park there and check out the Bonsai Museum.  It had rained a lot the night before and there were worms all over the place.  And when the sun had come out and warmed things up, the worms got "stuck."  Kane, a typical boy, poked them with sticks for a while.  I just wanted to eat my snack.  And we played on the little bridge on the Japanese side for a good amount of time, too.  

Now is the perfect time to visit some of these spots -- the weather looks like its going to be gorgeous this weekend! 

kane brought a treasure chest full of treasure to bury.

kane steered me away from the cactus -- he's dealt with them before.

showing the fishies my tummy.

"me too, me too" - i'm a pirate, too