Sequoia's picnic and pals....

So as I was saying, we went to Maymont in Richmond on Saturday and had an absolutely great time. We went to the nature center and aquarium (see previous post) , walked around the grounds, had a delicious picnic and went to the petting zoo.

I think Sequoia has impeccable taste when it comes to picking out an outfit for a picnic - even if it means stealing Colleen's hat.

Sequoia got a lot of exercise in general yesterday, but in particular she spent the entire time we were eating doing her version of sit ups and push ups - all in an effort to perfect (read duplicate) her ground breaking roll-over.

Picnics are a wonderful time to just relax and enjoy each other's company.

I love how easily amused Sequoia is. She keeps getting better about finding ways to entertain herself and it is fun to keep reminding ourselves that every little thing she does is an experiment in self discovery.

But is not all about self discovery ... yesterday she discovered the wonderful world of farm animals that live at Maymont's petting zoo.

I love this shot of her with this old billy goat. She was absolutely enthralled with the animals and would strain and stretch to get closer to them or to see them better. At one point all of the sheep and goats starting bleating because it was time to eat. Sequoia must of thought it was pretty funny because she starting laughing in response to their bleats.

Maymont has some beautiful gardens. These are just a few of the flower beds near the petting zoo. The entire facility is geared towards educational programs. Normally we would have walked the entire grounds but some huge thunderstorms were rolling in so we cut our trip short.

But not before Colleen and Sequoia got up close and personal with some of the inviting flower gardens along the way. It was an absolutely wonderful day together as a family. Sequoia was on the go all day and never complained once. She is the definition of a wonderful little girl.