Girls' Pick

Yep, we're still in Australia! And thanks to some supplemental curriculum I stumbled upon we'll be staying for one more week.  Spending three weeks in a continent hardly seems like enough time, Australia has so much to offer! 

Here are the picks for this week:

 Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo by Alison Lester

This book is amazing! I love it! What a great way to introduce children to Arnhem Land, which is in Northern Australia and is home to many different indigenous tribes and language groups. The book specifically focuses on Gunbalanya where Kunwinjku is the main language that is spoken.

amazon.com

The book is about a boy (Ernie) who is leaving his friends to live in Arnhem Land where is parents are working at a hospital. What makes this book so great is that its written as if Ernie is writing a letter to each of his friends for each of the Arnhem land seasons, there are six seasons! For each season there are different activities that each of Ernie's new friends are doing such as fishing, learning traditional Dreamtime stories, and playing sports.

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Another great thing about this book is that there is a short section at the beginning of the book explaining a bit about Arnhem Land, and the pronunciations of the seasons. At the back of the book there is a small glossary with terms that may not be familiar to the reader. It's a very easy read and beautifully illustrated. I can't wait to read more books by Alison Lester!

amazon.com

Waking Up Down Under by Carol Votaw

Another book that I've fallen in love with! This is an adorable book about 12 different Australian animal babies waking up in the morning. When the babies that wake in the morning go to sleep at night the story transitions right into the nocturnal babies waking up. So there are always babies awake in Australia! The sweet rhyming words 

Wake up, little emu, nibble in the sun. Your feathers may not fly, but oh, how you can run!

 and the delightful illustrations of the baby animals by Susan Banta make this book a must read!!!

amazon.com

Greensboro Bog Garden

We were lucky to have gorgeous weather on Sunday 9.11 so we decided to take a trip to the Greensboro Bog Garden and enjoy some peace and quiet with nature as a family. There are 4 free public gardens in Greensboro thanks to the Greensboro Beautiful project (the Bog Garden, Gateway Garden, Bicentennial Garden, and Arboretum). This is a smaller garden with more trees and bushes than flowers, there are pops of color throughout though. There are no facilities at this garden. The path is very clear and changes from dirt to a wooden boardwalk and there are smaller dirt paths that lead to some secluded places.

The Bog Garden is about 20 minutes from us

Water flows through the garden and the path leads to a small lake

This park is full of animals, we saw squirrels, ducks, geese, herons, chipmunks, and quite a few people walking their dogs. The chipmunks were like little ninjas! Just suddenly bolting out in front of us and then quickly disappearing into the leaves, I don't think the girls saw any of the chipmunks that Travis and I did. The water was full of ducks, it was duck paradise here, I've never seen so many ducks in one place! I'd love to come back when all the little ducklings are hatched, it would be a cuteness overload!

Look at all the fish!

A view of Starmount Farms Lake from the overlook

Great Blue Heron

If you take one of the smaller paths off the boardwalk it will lead you to a small memorial waterfall for the founder of the Bog Garden, Dr. Joseph Christian. There is a statue of him at the entrance of the park as well.

We really enjoyed ourselves at this garden. I definitely would recommend this park to anyone that comes to visit or lives in the area. It was clean, I didn't see any trash (there are trashcans throughout), the paths were clearly marked, nice and flat and would be easy to use a stroller on. Though there is a lot of water there are guardrails that would keep kids from falling in, some of the rails are lower in certain spots though. A few things to keep in mind when visiting this garden: dogs are allowed, there were a lot of people with dogs, the paths are wide enough for two people to pass each other but with little leeway so passing dogs will be fairly close. Also, there are no facilities, meaning, there are no bathrooms, water fountains, drink machines, etc. So pack a few drinks and your camera and come enjoy some time in this beautiful garden!