Labor Day

My husband and I spent the first two days of the long Labor Day weekend working on the house. My husband replaced some outdoor trim boards and touched up some peeling paint on the siding. I attempted to replace the screen in a sliding screen door. My attempt ended with the door being dropped off at the local hardware store, where it will be returned to me later this week with a new screen in it.

After all the work, it was time to relax. We spent Labor Day at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Connecticut. Harkness is one of my favorite places in Connecticut. It is basically 230 acres of lawn with a few enormous and beautiful trees sprinkled throughout. Add to that the fact that it overlooks the ocean (well, Long Island Sound), has a gorgeous mansion that was built in 1906, and has several meticulously kept flower gardens. What's not to love about this place?

The gardens are amazing. They are my three-year-old's second favorite part (right after the acres upon acres of lawn where she is allowed to run free). Here is what we found on this trip...

This rose was actually left from a wedding held at the mansion over the weekend.

In one of the gardens there is a circle of Japanese Thread Leaf Maple trees. This sign sits on a bench in front of them...

Now take a look at the trees...

Now you understand the sign. They are perfect climbing trees. Who wouldn't want to climb these?

The wind is always blowing across the lawns at Harkness. Sometimes it can be a little brutal, but most of the time it is a gentle breeze. Kite flying is huge here. On a weekend you'll see at least 20 kites flying in the air. This over-sized, beautiful kite was flying when we were there.

Yes, that's one kite!

While we were eating our picnic lunch, I noticed this off in the distance...

I love the way these two groups of trees mirror each other. There's an almost perfect division between the two.

We had a great Labor Day, and I hope you did, too. Both girls fell asleep in the car on the ride home, so you know it was a good day... lots of running around and exploring. I have a sewing project I've been working on. It is almost finished, and I'm going to write it up as a tutorial. I'm trying to get it done for early next week, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks for stopping by!