Small Wonder

For a change of pace, we celebrated our long weekend by driving to Delaware, a "small wonder" of a state for our own "small wonder", Rory.

We pointed our compass to Wilmington, a destination that we had never ventured. We found the city lovely, with nice parks and zoos and gardens.

The highlight of the trip (and the original impetus) was our visit to Longwood Gardens, which boasts a beautiful, indoor conservatory.

And while Rory's parents enjoyed the lush vegetation and blooming orchids, Rory enjoyed the long corridors down which she could RUN!

And CLIMB STAIRS! (Have I mentioned how much Rory likes to climb?)

The conservatory had hundreds of orchids.

And plenty of other colorful flowers (whose names went in one ear and out the other).

As Rory and Sarah were posing for this shot, Rory heard a piano from the distance ...

She led us into a music hall, and she fell (strangely) quiet as we listened to the music.

Rory was the youngest person in attendance, and the only one who ...

... cried when the performance was over! Seriously, she wailed when we left the music hall!

You can see that she was still mad as we made our way to the ...

... Indoor Children's Garden, which gave Rory even more fun places to explore and ...

... put a smile back on her face.

In fact, the fountains put more than just a smile on her face, they put water all over her face, and shirt, and pants!

Rory was mesmerized by the fountains!

She laughed so hard! But as time wore on, her clothes were becoming soaked, and so Mommy and Daddy decided to intervene.

I interrupt this blog posting to report that when we removed Rory from the fountain, we witnessed a tantrum to end all tantrums. Parents as far away as Philadelphia felt chills down their spine as they heard the shrill shrieks eminating from Longwood Gardens. Security men came dashing to the scene, surely dreading that they had skipped "Disaster Preparedness Day" at the last FEMA in-day seminar. We were encouraged to take our "small wonder with large lungs" to visit the outdoor topiary ...

Fortunately, the topiary shaped like a bird seemed to slow Rory's tears!

Back at that ranch, Rory enjoyed playtime with Mom and Dad.
Playtime was especially fun for Mommy since Daddy had stopped at a wine store on their way back from the Gardens.

Rory gets ready for bed outside of her tent ...


... Wait a second, it looks like Daddy has decided to crash Rory's camping expedition!