Chinese Garden

We had such a fabulous fieldtrip yesterday, to the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland.  We met our wonderful friends there. 

The kids are standing in a neat, circular entry into the garden, but of course I cropped that part off in an attempt to zoom in on the loveliness that is these eager, excited children.

The garden is just one city block (40,000 square feet).  It is surrounded by city streets and buildings, but inside...

it's a lush, Asian paradise. 

There is a lake, Lake Zither, that was one of the kids' favorite things about the place.  

They loved watching the Koi fish swim and splash.

That green plant growing in the lake is called Lotus.  The Lotus plant is similar to the water lily.  There are hundreds of native Chinese plants in this garden.  

Not sure of the name of this one. 

Here Logan and his buddy are hiding in a 
Weeping Willow and Bush Clover.

And this sweet, little red head is showing us the Hardy Begonia, which is a symbol of feminine modesty, beauty and virtue. This plant has been admired by poets and painters since the Ming Dynesty (1368-1644AD)  

The garden also had beautiful engraved wood work

and a calligrapher, who handpainted, with authentic brushes, Chinese symbols of any animal the kids chose.  The animals of choice ranged from a Shark to a mouse.  He then wrote "For (child's name) to keep and appreciate. The year of the rabbit. The Chinese Garden. (and then his signature)."   It was fun watching him work. 

Here's Logan with his "lion" and a weird grin of some sort.

And Taylor with her "cat."  What's with the weird smiles today?

The kids drew out "fortune sticks."  I forget what the kids' fortunes were.  Something like, 'You will be rich and take very good care of your parents in their old age' and 'You will become the most obedient child the world has ever seen!'

"I'm smiling as big as I can.  Hurry up and take the picture, so I can go run around some more!"

 "I'm a pretty princess!  I'm a pretty princess!"

The kids had so much fun it was actually hard to get them to sit still long enough to take a picture. 

The kids were given a guide/scavenger hunt to help them find and notice things.  They all did really well with that, working as a team and sharing with others what they discovered.

Far and away, the best things we saw at the Chinese garden were...

our friends!!!