Tanger Bicentennial Garden

The day we visited the Greensboro Bog Garden we also visited the Bicentennial Garden, they happen to be right across the street from each other! The Bicentennial Garden is the third out of four free public gardens in Greensboro we've visited, I haven't been disappointed by any of them. The Greensboro Beautiful project has done an amazing job with all of the gardens (Bog Garden, Bicentennial Garden, Arboretum, and Gateway Gardens) all three that we have been to have been breathtakingly beautiful and we are so lucky that they are free for the public to enjoy!

The Bicentennial Garden is about 20 minutes away from us and right across from the Bog Garden

Restroom at the front entrance

The view walking into the garden

Smelling the flowers

According to the Greensboro Beautiful website this garden is a popular place for weddings and photography. When we were there a senior happened to be getting her pictures taken, it was fun for the girls to watch the photographer pose her in different spots, I can imagine how in awe they'd be over a bride! The gazebo (pictured below) is where many of the weddings take place. The girls (sitting in the urn) are against the back wall of the gazebo, aren't they adorable? 

Space in front of the gazebo used for wedding guests

The whole garden has a paved walkway

See what looks like a ditch in the picture above filled with brush? It's actually a manmade stream that runs through the garden. We happened to look over into it and found a wonderful surprise, somebody had gone down into the little stream and took the time to create some land art! We found towers in three different locations throughout the garden, it was fun looking out for them.

There are quite a few statues scattered around the park 

There are benches everywhere which is awesome because the garden is very large. The benches also make for nice photo-op spots, if you have willing participants.

The flowers, trees, ground covering, shrubs, bushes, mossy stuff, plants, whatever you call them! They're all beautiful, well manicured, not overgrown, well watered, not wilty, brown or ugly. The displays were tasteful, the colors complimented each other nicely. What I'm trying to say is that the actual 'garden' part of the Bicentennial Garden are lovely!

Like my previous posts about the public gardens in Greensboro, I've ended by saying that I'd recommend anybody that lives in or visits the area should visit the gardens, this garden is no exception. If I had to choose one garden out of the three we've been to I would recommend this one, mostly because it offers a bit of everything. Trees, flowers, water, art, facilities, picnic tables, etc. So, with that being said...if you're ever in the area come visit this garden!

On your mark, get set...

10 Years, Ready For A Gajillion More

Today Travis and I are celebrating our 10 year "together" anniversary. It's hard to believe 10 years ago we were fresh (sorta...) faced 16 year olds who giggled at the thought of holding hands and had silly tickle fights. It's been the most fulfilling 10 years of my life and I couldn't imagine it being any different.

I love you Travis

Thank you for all of your sacrifices

Thank you for accepting me

Thank you for understanding me

but most of all

Thank you for loving me

<3

We Went To DC!

We randomly roadtripped to Washington D.C.  to go to the zoo. I've been there before a few years ago to the Mall but never experienced it like this. It was a fantastic trip and I'll be making it again soon for the Cherry Blossom Festival (EXCITED!)

My overall experience with DC was a pleasant one, I rode the Metro for the first time, whoa!

Definitely don't see many kids on the Metro, next time I come I will not be bringing the big stroller!

The wind from the Metro blowing Charlotte's hair

Metro girls

The zoo was nice, I can't lie though, I was a tad disappointed. It's a bit tourist-y for my taste BUT I think it's supposed to be, I mean it is our National Zoo and not a little hometown zoo for goodness sakes! My favorite area was the bird area. The birds had the most beautiful exhibits I think and they're all so colorful. The Kookaburra was my favorite, so funny to listen to him laughing! But as soon as I got the video camera out he stopped (gosh darn him)! As soon as I left I could hear him laughing behind my back, ugh! I did happen to catch this guy making a ruckus though:

The male tiger was putting on a show, roaring at the people behind the door and jumping up to peek through the windows. I'm quite sure he was starving. I was hoping to see them feed him but I couldn't stand there for that long hoping something exciting was going to happen.

Putting her hand in the tiger's mouth

The reptile house was my second favorite place, I love reptiles and amphibians...behind glass of course. I mean, I don't mind them out of glass if they are the non venomous small type with the not so gigantic teeth that stick out while they're eyeing you. They are amazing animals, I was pretty excited to see a couple anacondas, that is one big snake!

This guy was smiling in his sleep after a big leafy green dinner!

One awesome thing about DC that I noticed is that there are architectural details galore! I could just walk around by myself all day taking pictures of interesting details. And there are so many walls that are just screaming to be backdrops!

I'm thinking you guys are going to see a lot of DC in the future, hope you like it!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a big deal in our family. 

I mean...BIG!

We have a huge family and it's only my husband's dad's side of the family at that!

I could just imagine adding his mom's side and both my sides...OMG!

I think we figured it was 26 people this year and we were missing 2 and we just keep growing and growing!!!

This year I made the sweet potatoes (that seems to be what I've taken over) even though nobody ate them because they didn't end up getting passed around the table, I also made 2 desserts which I usually always do since I've been coming to this crazy annual feast (7 years I think...)

The salted caramel banana pudding pie was a major hit, it was absolutely fabulous, so much so there wasn't any to bring home. Find the recipe here.

The maple pecan pumpkin cheesecake with the maple pecan glaze was also delicious, only brought a little bit home. 

I didn't think to take pictures of them before and I'm kicking myself now, argh.

This is the first year Charlotte really got into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was so darn cute! She was doing all the dance moves along with the Rockettes and singing with all the shows and pointing out the balloons and so excited to see Santa at the end, just sooooo darn cute! Surprisingly enough both the girls took naps before heading over to the festivities and awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to go mingle with family!

We arrived, ate, drank and were super merry!

At the end when everyone is leaving we always end up saying to ourselves, we need to do this more often...

...and I really wish we did.