Shangri La, Part 2

At Shangri La, there is a natural heronry...with a bird blind for photography. Now at this point, we had been walking for almost a mile and the girlies were super tired. Most of these pictures were taken with a squirmy Lilly on my hip. :) So Eric helped out a bit and took some of these too. I could tell you more about this place, but the pictures explain it better....

The black bird is a juvenile Anhinga who was stirring up trouble. :)

These guys are Double-Crested Cormorants. We have them in Central Texas too...
The rest of these beautiful birds are Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, and a few Roseate Spoonbills...you can't miss those guys!

The Great Egret...

The Roseate's are GORGEOUS!! I will never forget the time in college, when I was on my Ornithology field trip, and stood on the beach watching a flock of hundreds of these bright pink birds soar over the water and land on the beach.
This was the coolest nest, I think....the 2 babies occasionally poked their heads up to look around at everything!

Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center

Ok folks, you have all got to go visit the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, Texas. It was about a 30 minute drive from us in Nederland. It was REALLY cool! I took tons of pictures, so this post is only the first installment of our trip.

It is BEAUTIFUL!!! Maybe it's the nature lover in me, or the biology degrees, but even though it was terribly hot and humid, just looking at nature and being in such a gorgeous setting, put me in heaven!

Check out their website and plan a trip...seriously!

http://www.shangrilagardens.org/

Lexi and Daddy checking out the petrified wood fountain...

Lilly kept asking if she could swim in the fountains...
My super stars...
What a great site!!
The coolest tree...
They have a children's garden with watering cans, a contained, real working bee hive, and lots of fun things for kids to do. We were going to save it for the end, but were too hot at the end. Next time we go, the kids are gonna get to play.

The bees...


The sunflowers that were the size of the kid's heads...
Lounging in the children's garden...

The epiphyte house (epiphyte = a plant that grows above the ground, supported nonparasitically by another plant or object, and deriving its nutrients and water from rain, the air, dust, etc.)

Mini-Pineapples...1 inch tall
I LOVE this one...

Lillies...I wonder why I love them!
Lexi...
A pond...there were a lot of them

Eric's favorite trees in the swampy area...
There were lots of little mini-gardens off of the main path that were meant to sit and relax in. There was a really cute little lady writing in her journal...I tried to get the girls to be quiet as we passed her.
Ok, do you see the wings on the bumblebee? I LOVE this picture too! The girls had never seen a big bumblebee before...
A path...

And I have tons more to show you and pictures to post....I haven't even gotten to the heronry yet!! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy seeing this place and can go one day! The town of Orange is pretty cute too!

They Loved It...

In the next video, listen to what Lilly says when the water stops spraying...

Did you hear her say, "Where'd it go?" It was too cute!