A Preschool Trip to the Tucson Botanical Gardens

 This post will probably be mostly pictures...but you don't want to hear about beautiful plants and gardens, you want to see them, right??

Anyway, the last week of March was a busy one; but we still enjoyed ourselves, especially with Celeste's preschool field trip. The destination was the Tucson Botanical Gardens. While this garden certainly isn't as green as other botanical gardens I've visited, it's still a neat place to visit to see the exotic, varied world of desert flora.

There's not really much to say here, beyond...the kids enjoyed looking at the large variety of plants, and it was a beautiful way to spend a morning with two cute children. On with the pictures!

There was a little sandbox there for the kids to dig around in

There was a cute little "mini-town" inside the gardens, complete with running electric train. So, of course, the kids were more interested in the town than any of the plants--we spent quite a while here! I liked this shot of the lizard overlooking the town; I could just imagine him feasting on the train's tiny inhabitants, a la some cheesy 50s horror movie!

Celeste enjoyed the many different kinds of cacti...

...and so did Aurora!!

I love desert plants, because they can look so drab sometimes, and then surprise you with a bright burst of color!

Celeste loved this fountain, too!

Stiiiill watching (and loving) that miniature train....

There was also a cute little "children's garden" section, with lots of bright colors throughout...

...as well as lots of interactive areas, including a variety of plant carcasses to touch and handle...

...and a "live soil" digging area, complete with live worms!! Eek!

Aurora loved the wind chimes (and climbing on all the pony walls)

During the winter, the Botanical Gardens opens their Butterfly Pavilion--an enclosed greenhouse-type area with lots of beautiful butterflies (some quite exotic) flitting around everywhere. It costs extra to go inside, so I opted out, but the whole class was invited to go through. Some kids loved being so close up to the butterflies, but many other only complained about how hot & humid it was inside--hah!

Yes, these are my girls at the end of the trip! They're clearly pleased :)

 Afterwards, we had a quick lunch and a trip to CostCo, then we were homeward bound...with lots of pretty memories and pictures to share with you, gentle readers.