Apparently, there’s some sort of division among the residents of St. Louis as to whether one calls the Botanical Garden the Botanical Garden or Shaw’s Garden. I gather that what is now the Botanical Garden was once Shaw’s Garden, and so this difference in naming tells one whether the person has been is St. Louis for a considerable amount of time. Or it tells you whether they can read the signage around the Garden, but that’s another discussion.
Anyway, Margaret has a somewhat endearing habit of combining McGregor and garden when she reads Peter Rabbit, and one morning we were talking about going to the Garden, and it transpired that she said “McGregor garden?” and I said “No, Mr. Shaw’s garden” AS A JOKE and now that’s what she calls it. And on weekend mornings asks to go there.
So this morning we did. But it was raining, and outdoor amusements in the rain are not exactly the best thing to do, particularly not with Ellie in tow.*
Luckily, the Garden has a nice indoor area for children, which is currently teaching them about China. And in the middle, there’s a stove and restaurant set-up, which Margaret enjoys.
They have really cool felt food, and when we got home I made her some rice noodles (I had white felt, so they had to be rice noodles. I see a trip to some felt-supplying emporium in our future). She made us all bowls of food, and it was very nice. And we didn’t even get to the coloring and the book corner and the stuffed animals and the dress-up box before Leo got bored, and we had to move on.
So Margaret climbed into her covered wagon. You know, like you do when you’re driving away from China.
Eventually we pried her away from the wagon by suggesting that she try to run faster than Daddy, and she did that until she got to the sheep. Which she sat on, and got soaking wet. So we went home.
*Ellie was being pushed in front of me, actually, not towed behind.
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