Over the weekend we had a lot of time on our hands in Orange County, so a trip to the pretty darn close Fullerton Arboretum seemed like a great idea. We’ve been there a few times before and I kick myself for taking so long to introduce Kayla to it in the first place. If you find yourself in this area on a nice day (which is sort of normal) I highly recommend a visit. It’s CRAZY kid-friendly and packed with nooks, trees and bridges to explore plus lots of animals and butterflies to spot.
Kayla is always eager to pop our donation into the little metal tube at the entrance. No, you don’t have to contribute $3 a person, technically it’s on the honor system and I totally understand if you have a big family it might get out of hand. I see it as a give what you can situation.
Right after we walked in we spotted a giant fish in a pond and these turtles sunbathing. On any given day you will see lots of turtles and at least a few ducks.
Not too long after the turtles came a milkweed plant that was home to a bunch of monarch butterfly caterpillars. Which if course Kayla and her friends we were visiting with loved and had to be told a few times not to touch.
Then came some very impressive flowers that little miss just had to smell.
And and impromptu race up the “mountain” and back down with dad.
There is a giant tree that has a “slide” on it. Okay, it’s not really a slide, but the roots are so massive that to a 4 year old it literally is a slide, but better since of course it’s a tree.
Many slides later we found this random funky plant. I have no idea what it is. If you do please enlighten me! I called it a fuzzy lion snout because seriously, don’t you just want to sew that on a lion costume?
And Kayla found the biggest leaf ever.
Until of course she found an ever BIGGER one. It was huge. We don’t have a single deciduous tree near us so the joy of fallen leaves was overwhelming.
And apparently there is some sort of special children’s garden that we had missed on visits past. Don’t miss it, it’s filled with cool things.
Like scavenger hunts and giant bales of hay. Which children of all sizes can enjoy.
ALL sizes and levels of maturity. We spent about 2 hours roaming through the Fullerton Arboretum and certainly could have gone longer if extreme hunger hadn’t set in. There were a few little picnics going on but we were off to support Small Business Saturday at Pieology which is a total gem of a pizza place.
With all that we saw and did I think my favorite moment of the day was this one. Two little friends conspiring in cuteness to hide out under the citrus trees. Oh to be four again…
