Butterflies and Treehouses at Tyler

Saturday we headed out early to the Butterfly Festival at Tyler Arboretum. We've never been to the Arboretum during an actual event and it was much more crowded than we expected, but the arboretum is so large that we never felt the crowds as we walked around.

N checking out the fairytale tree house.

Rudy and N in the Goblin house, where N felt the need to scream and shout.

At the actual festival, there were lots of activities. Rudy spent most of his time watching Jon the Bugman. I helped N make this antenna. So cute!

Hatching eggs. N didn't want to leave the eggs and just kept sitting on them saying "bawk, bawk".

Every few minutes another butterfly was tagged and released.

 

 

Paul and Rudy waiting at the bottom of a tree house.

 

Peek-a-boo

Rudy up in the highest tree house. I think he's posing as if he were falling.

As soon as I took that picture, he immediately said, "Now a nice one."

At one point we walked over a small bridge and Paul and I were talking about The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Rudy hadn't heard the story, so we were recounting it to him. A little while later we came across this Thoreau cabin that was set up like an old school house with books in it. Rudy found The Three Billy Goats Gruff and sat to read it.

N loves frogs. There were 4 of these statues and he had to sit on all of them.

Just resting in the bears' chairs.

Trying out the medium chair.

A new tree house- set up like a fort. See Paul and the top and N at the bottom chasing Rudy down the hill.

 

 

Paul stood in the fort taking a picture of me and Rudy, while we waited for his phone to cooperate, I took a picture of him and N (check out the little peep hole on the right).

 

Laving the fort (I'm not sure what N was doing in the back. He wasn't upset, I think he was being silly.)

It was another beautiful fall like day (kind of sad when it happens in August). And the ride home included two sleeping boys- always a plus!

Tyler Arboretum

*Blogger is not cooperating so I can't get this set up exactly the way I want.
After some rainy days, Sunday ended up sunny and nice, so we headed out to the Tyler Arboretum. First  we walked through the tree houses exhibit. Most of them are the same from year to year with some minor changes.

This was the goblin shack- apparently goblins make and do everything crooked.

Disbelief that anyone would think the bats and spiders inside are real.

Entryway to the dress up tree house.

Paul chillin' in the tree stump chairs.

Going over the troll bridge.

Checking for a troll under the bridge.

I was going to use the timer to take a picture of us all, but the camera wasn't cooperating. This is them patiently (or not) waiting for me to fuss with the camera.

Peek-a-boo

"The Magical Path"

Lots of gnomes and fairies and houses.

Rudy had to be small for the picture.

An unknown doorway. What could be in it?

Me peeking out of the guitar and drum tree house.

The tree house that is actually in the trees.

A few years ago, when we first starting going here, Rudy needed help getting up and down this; this time he was already up in the tree house before Paul and I even reached it.

A magical house with a magical hat.

The three bears' chairs.

Paul wasn't willing to try baby bear's chair.

In the butterfly house, a volunteer pointed out this caterpillar. I think it was some kind of swallowtail caterpillar.

The perfect sitting area.

Hatching an egg.

The  view from the birdhouse - outside...

...and inside.

After exploring the tree houses, we took a lunch break then went for a hike. Paul and I had been here in the winter for a full moon hike and learned about the trails that were available to walk. We have been wanting to bring Rudy back for one particular trail and area. It was the perfect day for a hike because it wasn't very humid, so the woods were very comfortable.
As soon as we started out, Rudy felt like it was a good place to be Indiana Jones, so he took the water bottle carrier I had and slung it over his shoulders to replicate Indy's pack.

A grassy path.

There were a few obstacles.

About half way through the trail, we found what we were looking for- an area called Indian Rock. Here there are lots of big rocks to climb on, and a little stream around them. In no time at all Rudy was practically out of sight following the water and climbing rocks.

This in Indian Rock- somehow it is carved to point perfectly in all 4 directions.

This is where Paul stayed while I followed Rudy down the rocks.

Because walking across fallen logs isn't enough, sometimes you have to dance on them.

Look closely and you can see Paul relaxing on the rock.

As we headed back to the area that had less rocks, we saw some frogs sitting on the rocks by the water.

Rudy  then went on a frog hunt. He did not catch any.

Rudy wasn't ready to leave, but it had been a long day and we still had to walk back, so we headed out.