Can I just pause for a moment and say how much I am loving how close our new neighborhood is to downtown? We are only moments away via car, or a short Skyway ride, or we can easily get there on our own two feet by crossing the Main Street Bridge. Presumably largely thanks to our close proximity, we have really been taking advantage of all the fun activities downtown Jacksonville has to offer. I mean, sure, I think we probably still would have done a lot of this stuff if we still lived in our old neighborhood, but it might have seemed more daunting with the need to drive a bit and find parking and all that nonsense. Knowing that now all we have to do is go for a nice stroll across a scenic bridge and we'll end up right in the middle of the action, we can hardly say no to any downtown fun.
And that's just what we did for this Earth Day Festival. Walking across the Main Street Bridge takes us directly to the Landing, so we had a quick and easy commute (although we did get stopped by the drawbridge on the way across!).
On the downtown side of the river with my cute little hippo
Ellie and Eric walking to the Landing
The festival was excellent. They had tons of booths with vendors, animal encounters, and information. Highlights for the kids: Jamberry Nails sample for Ellie (that girl loves a good polish), alligators (for E.J.) and snakes (for Ellie), planting little plants (Ellie) and dancing to the live music (E.J.).
She loves having her nails done!
Practically hugging the snakes
E.J. checking out an alligator
Watering our new plant
She worked up her courage to touch a snake!
So brave!
There were also a TON of tables with craft projects for the kids to make using recycled materials. We painted a rock, made a cootie bug out of an egg carton, and painted an insulation fish. And we skipped a lot of tables!
Ellie painting her rock
Gluing eyes on the cootie bug
On our way out, we couldn't resist a strawberry lemonade all-natural popsicle. It was very refreshing and the kids were quite excited about it!
E.J. is ready for some popsicle!
Then, on the Tuesday before Earth Day, we were able to plant seeds at storytime at Barnes and Noble. We did this last year and Ellie's seeds actually grew quite impressively, and lived a long and happy life (relatively speaking) in our old apartment. Then we moved here and I promptly killed that plant, as I am wont to do with plants.
So, we decided to try again this year. Ellie scooped the dirt into her little cup, put in the seeds, added more dirt and watered it.
Planting her seeds
So pleased with her gardening skills!
And she already has some little sprouts!
Go, little plant, go!
Happy belated Earth Day!
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