Chinese Lantern Festival

It's been a while since we've been to the Botanical Gardens. It's free on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so those are usually the only days we'll go if we remember. This Summer, they have a huge Chinese Lantern Festival going on throughout the gardens, and it is fantastic! I forgot the camera the first time we went, but made sure to bring it the second. Check out the giant dragon at the entrance:

 And the dragon just inside the entrance is equally as impressive. They light everything up at night, but we haven't made it yet as it's pretty expensive for a couple of cheapskates like us. We might just have to make a date of it though...

We didn't walk around as much this time, but made sure to go back and take some pictures of our favorites. Like these giant dragons made out of china. Their scales are dinner plates and their talons are teacups and spoons. AWESOME.

The Climatron was cool too. The kids loved spying bananas and pineapples up in the trees, and were fascinated by these blown glass sculptures.

We met up with some friends, and made Chinese style paper fans together.

Eliza is really sweet with Nora.

Then we headed to the Children's Gardens together and played in the fountains to cool off.

The small Chinese garden was the perfect spot for a snack.

There were huge tadpoles in the pond. I had never seen a real one up close, but there was one with a tail, almost as big as the frog hanging out next to it. Pretty cool!

Nora LOVES frogs.

Before heading home, we swung by the Japanese Gardens to feed the giant koi fish.

I really love living in St. Louis. There's so much to do here, that I really think I'd miss it if we ever left. Now if we could just recruit a little more family to live out here... :)