Parks and Gardens

Dearest Princesses,

We tried to bring you girls to the kite festival at the West Coast Park today but it was next to impossible to have fun there!

We'd gotten there quite a bit after the start time and the roads were jammed with cars. There was no way to find a parking space anywhere at the Park so Papa let Mama and you both off before heading to the nearest housing estate to look for a place to park.

Mama brought you both around the place but could hardly find any space for you all to set up our picnic mat or even stand comfortably to watch the kites being flown though there really were many kites in the air. It was also very hot and Mama was worried that you both would get sun burnt.

Meanwhile, Papa had driven round and round the housing estates trying to find a parking lot to no avail. Finally, when Papa found one quite a distance away, Mama called to inform Papa that we should go off as the conditions were not good at all. Thus, Papa drove back to pick all of you up and we set off for the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden instead.

Papa and Mama were quite curious about what this Children's Garden was like since your school had brought you there for a picnic, Skyler. After we got to the Botanic Gardens, we walked quite a bit before finding the entrance to this Garden. It was filled with quite a number of fun things to do.

There was even a slide and Papa brought you up to slide down it, Ashley. Skyler, of course you couldn't resist it and you slid down on your own. There was also a hollow tree where we could be fascinated by how it could survive being so hollow and all. We walked over the suspension bridge just for the fun of it as well.

When they closed this Garden, we went to look for the swans at the pond. While we did find the swans, they were too far away for us to feed with the bread we had brought. However, we did encounter a water hen where we were by the pond and when we offered it some bread, it happily took it. The amazing thing was that there was another water hen in the bushes and the first one passed the bread to the second one which then brought it back into the bushes. This kept happening every time we gave the first one bread! It would take the bread then pass it off to the second one before coming back for more. It amazes us how cooperative these birds were!

The problem was that there were also pigeons around who also wanted the bread. Thus, the pigeons, which were quite numerous, would come and try to fight for the bread. We then split up and Papa tried to distract the pigeons with some bread while you fed the water hens, Skyler.

All in all, it was an interesting experience at the Botanic Gardens.

Papa and Mama love you girls lots!