Not Quite the Beach...

(picture from Marika)

Last week Marika e-mailed us and asked if we wanted to go to the beach this past weekend. While normally we love the beach, Dave had been beaching it for the past two weekends and wanted a bit of a break. So we decided to look up our friend Alissa and check out Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens, thus keeping a resolution Dave and I made after this visit! First of all we needed to find a place for lunch. Alissa and I determined that Earth to Table Bread Bar sounded like just the place.

Sam and Rachel enjoyed some Monkey Bread while we waited for a table to clear and for the others to arrive. The food was good, the company was better and Miss Rachel practiced her future career as a thief by taking $20 from Alissa's wallet while Alissa was otherwise occupied.

Then we had a quick tour of Alissa's (semi) new digs and then we headed off to the Gardens. There was an exhibit of Zimbabwean art and it was pretty cool. We joked that Alissa and Marika could buy Sam the fish sculpture for his next birthday. They declined. It was only $3000 so we don't know what's up with that?!?!?

(picture by Marika)

There was lots of cool stuff to see so we wandered around for a bit, just taking in the sights and enjoying good conversation.

And then we hit the Veggie Garden and the fun really began! (Thanks to Alissa's perfect positioning of her head I was able to get the perfect picture of Dave and his garden.)

After the Veggie Garden and a few other stops we headed off to the Helen M Kippax Garden which promised a Woodland Trail and some shade to provide relief from the 27 degree day. The Woodland Trail was my favourite part. And Marika took some awesome pictures of Sam and Rachel as evidenced below. Oh, I just melt at all that sweetness.

She also caught Sam hanging with Uncle Donny. And Dave really liked the picture of Sam running away as that is what he was doing most of the day!

And then we headed back to KW for supper. We were glad that some good friends came over to enjoy the farmer sausage and fresh veggies we had for dinner.

(picture from Marika)

And then we ended the evening off with cookies, beer, Coke, learning to take better pictures and lots of laughter. It was the perfect end to a really good day, even if it wasn't at the beach.