Citygarden

I have one last post for the "photo tour" in the life of our family this past week. Sorry I am hitting you with so many photos, all in one day. Humor me, y'all!

On Friday, my mom's club went to downtown St. Louis to check out the new Citygarden. The first time I heard of it was here on Jodie's blog. I was intrigued and checked out the website, but still wasn't sure if it would be a good place for our group. Oh, man! It turned out to be a home run. It was so incredibly cool. I can't wait to go back!

There were so many cool water features and beautiful sculptures that are all touch- and climb-friendly. It was an oasis in the middle of downtown. I took almost 200 photos of the group. I will do a community service by not posting them all here, but I AM showing some of my favorite shots.

This sideways head is hollow inside, and the kids enjoyed climbing in it. There was also a slightly sloped stone pad under it, with water sliding down it. Just enough water to make a moving puddle. The kids loved stomping and splashing in it.

I am not sure exactly what this sculpture is, but there are three of them and Jackson looked so tiny standing in them.

Another curious sculpture. Jackson thought it was a slide, and kept trying to find the stairs so he could climb up and slide down. Then he just opted to directly climb up the "slide" part.

This shows one of the stone entrances.

Jackson was deep in thought, puzzling over how to escape the camera and run back to the red "slide" sculpture.

This sculpture was at the top of a grassy hill. Jackson asked me, "Can I go hug the guh-raff?" (He can't pronounce the "J" sound well, so "giraffe" is pronounced with a hard "G." So is Jackson, jump, etc.) I told him to run up and hug the guh-raff. He did the first hug with his hat on. And then when the bill of his hat got in the way, he removed it so he could snuggle in closer.

Then we got swimsuits on and let the kids play in the reflecting pool and waterfall. Jackson climbed all over the stones, taking some pretty big leaps from stone to stone. My heart skipped a few beats, but he was fine.

It was time to move on to the jumping fountains. This was the highlight of my day with Jackson. After cautiously checking out the spurts coming from about 100 fountains set in the stones on the ground, he started going wild and running through them. He would just charge up and down the line, having a ball.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jackson. I love how the wet ground behind him looks shimmery.

And this is a photo of one of the kids who was with our group. I caught a fountain squirting in her face. She laughed and thought it was hilarious. So did I!