Nichols Arboretum

This afternoon, the children in Elaine's room and our room took the city bus and headed to Nichols Arboretum. This is one of those times when I marvel at the amazing city in which we live - and how great it is to be an "urban" school. I love the fact that all that Ann Arbor has to offer is right outside our door, and becomes part of our classroom.

Here are some pictures I took that will give you a glimpse of the highlights of the trip. (Actually, Ian took the gorgeous photo of the red and yellow peony, but I took the rest.) The peonies were particularly spectacular - I highly suggest a visit there in the next several weeks when they are at their peak. Amazing!



Perhaps my favorite photo of the day is the one of Atty doing some reflective sketching. Each child had a clipboard with a map of the Arb plus paper for sketches. Imogen came with us and supplied us with colored pencils and inspiration - she is a wonderful artist in her own right.


Then we followed the trails to the river, where children cooled their hands in the water, waved to people canoeing, and ate refreshing clementines for snack.


But I bet if you ask your child THEIR favorite part of the trip, they will say - you guessed it - the bus ride.