Family Fun Times 5 at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
by Michelle Burdiss, Member, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
My family and I have so many memories that involve Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden that it is really hard to pick and choose what to share. It all started when my (now) husband proposed. It was Christmas time and right after I said, “YES!” (actually it was “YEAH!”) we headed on over to LGBG for our first visit to Dominion GardenFest of Lights. We didn’t actually get to come in because it was so late that it was nearly closing time so….fast forward to GardenFest 3 years later –we had now gotten married, had our first child and I was pregnant with our second child. We brought our daughter to see the lights and had a wonderful time. ……Now fast forward to 2013, we have been married for over 11 years, and we have FIVE children! Our big ol’ family of 7 comes for visits every chance we get (even when I was VERY pregnant with No. 5 and had to be pushed around in wheelchair by my husband!)
I try to remember to take a group photo of the kids by the windows of the CWD Kids Tree House almost every time we visit. It’s neat to see how much they have grown. Clockwise from Top Left : When there were only four – Summer. The four during GardenFest. Then there were five, baby’s first visit to the Garden last October, and the Burdiss five, this past May.
We now live nearly an hour away but, that doesn’t stop us from using our family membership every chance we get. It was a great Christmas present from my mom. From the Children’s Garden WaterPlay area, to the 100+ year-old Mulberry tree that our kids LOVE to climb, to the Butterflies LIVE! exhibit where a butterfly has landed on over half of our family, to the goose parents with five baby geese that we saw during our visit while I was expecting our fifth “gosling,” there is still so much to explore. It seems I’m always there taking tons of photos!
I am excited that our kids stop and take time to look at the beauty that is all around and are patient with me when I want to take photos of them and of the nature all around. So….here are some photo collages that show how our family has grown over the years during visits at the Garden.
Here I am being silly on the butterfly bench while pregnant with our fifth child….. and holding him when he was 9 months old.
Three of our Five: Enjoying the Butterflies LIVE! exhibit
Our 2 oldest children — photos taken at the Orchids Galore exhibit, 6 years apart — sitting in the same spot.
Our youngest daughter with the Monkey in the Children’s Garden. Taken 3 years apart.
During Dominion GardenFest of Lights: Our family — me pregnant with our second child., and sitting in the same spot, I am pregnant with our fifth child.