Last Minute Winter Fun

Laying in bed this morning, I thought maybe I could kill two birds with one stone this weekend. I needed to go to the Gap and Penny's and I thought the Green Bay Botanical Gardens had something going on this weekend. After a bit of research, I realized the Winter Family Festival at the Botanical Gardens was only today from 10-2 and it was free. However since I had to be home by 12:30 for basketball there was no time to hit the Bay Park Square Mall. I texted Danielle to see if she wanted to come and after a little bit of prodding she decided she could go. My brother said he was thinking about taking the kids and I told him to meet us there.

When we got to the gardens, our first stop was to pick up a map and a snowman for the snowman scavenger hunt. The volunteer didn't care if we were kids or adults, if we wanted to do the scavenger hunt, we could. Snowmen seemed to be the overall theme. You could take snowman pictures, play snowman toss, bowling, or slam, and build a mini snowman. It was definitely geared to younger kids but the volunteers let the "big kids" play too.

The snowman scavenger hunt let you explore the upper grounds while dressing your snowman along the way. There were 5 stations "hidden" around the grounds. 1 station each for the buttons/face, carrot nose, hat, scarf, and arms. They thought ahead and cut the noses and hats and already had sticky stuff on the back. The yarn was precut. The sticks already had the brads in them. My only complaint was that the sticky stuff was in the wrong spot on the hat so it covered his eyes. I now have a snowman hanging on my fridge.

You could explore the grounds either on foot or on snowshoe. If I had more time I definitely would have liked to explore more. There were plenty of snowshoes available for a good tromp through the gardens. There were a few snow sculptures as well as an ice fishing demonstration inside.  

It was a nice family event. I enjoyed it and probably would go back next year. I definitely need to go back in spring or summer when the plants are actually in bloom. There are other events I may check out throughout the year. It is a little far to go all the time but once in a while I don't mind the half hour drive (I know... I know.. that's nothing but it seems so far).