Stanford Cactus Garden

Today after church, lunch, and naps (yay!) we went over to the Stanford Cactus Garden to explore! It was very cool. Lincoln thought it was the coolest place he's ever been; he enjoyed wandering around the trails, exploring, smelling all the flowers, and pointing at each cactus and saying "ouch!" 

We felt a bit daring letting our toddler run around a cactus garden without holding our hands, but he had no interest in holding our hands, and was surprisingly good and didn't touch a single sharp object. He sounded like he was sneezing over and over because of how often he would point at cacti and say "ouch!" It was hilarious. 

We planned on being there for like 20 minutes, but it turned into a much longer adventure. I'm sure we'll be back. Lincoln loved it. Here are some pictures!

Lincoln was not thrilled that we were trying to get him to look at the camera instead of all the cool cacti behind him. 

This face kills me. :) 

This boy loves to smell flowers. 

He did not understand why we kept stopping him from exploring to take pictures!

But dad's more fun to look at behind the camera, so I got a good picture with him. :) 

This one reminded me of a porcupine. 

In hind sight, I have no idea why we brought the stroller. 

I don't know why, but this one was so creepy to me! It looked like worms! 

These ones are the scariest to me- the hairy needles would be so painful! 

These were like Mickey Mouse ears with bundles of spiny terribleness all over them. 

I loved these... like beachballs of death. 

Look how long the needles were on this one!  

A giant aloe vera plant (at least 8 feet tall). 

Feeding Lincoln to the giant aloe vera plant. :) 

Looking for the source of the ambulance sirens (with a great view of the garden in the back). 

Running right up the side of a giant tree. Lincoln wanted to climb it SO BAD. I might be in trouble.

Sitting at the base of the giant tree. I thought it looked like dinosaur legs and feet.

Smelling the flowers, avoiding the spines. 

We walked over to the Mausoleum that the Stanfords are buried (entombed?) in. Lincoln thought it was pretty cool. Before we left he went up the steps, waved at the doors, and said "bye bye!" over and over. It was hilarious... and slightly creepy ha ha.

We walked past the cactus garden on the way back to the car, and Lincoln wanted to stick around some more. He found a rock, picked it up, threw it, chased after it, picked it up, and threw it again, over and over and over. Then when he was tired he found a nice patch of pathway and sat in it and drew. When he got tired of that, he handed us his rock and had us draw letters with it so he could say them. Funny boy.

It was a fun afternoon with our favorite little boy! :)