Tea Date

We took one of Matilda's good friends from preschool out for tea and a romp through the Huntington Gardens today as a birthday present. The girls started out the day with lots of note taking and scientific observation. Matilda made a list of the first 10 plant species she saw but her note taking tapered as their pace and excitement level ramped up.

I think Matilda loves the tea room just because the buffet has caviar on it. Her first plate was fairly balanced: melon, olives, noodle salad, caviar and chocolate mousse cups.

She quick gave up on a balanced meal and started bringing back plates with only caviar and mousse cups. In this photo she is using a cracker-caviar-delivery-system but she soon move to a spoon-only operation.

 After the girls got their bellies full of mousse cups, we headed out to explore the gardens. Matilda really loved spinning in her slippery high heels on this marble floor.

The misty children's garden is another good location to run in slick shoes. 

 Experimenting with sugar solution and light refraction.

In the fountains, it all started out with a little splashing. 

 Then rapidly led to dipping hair into the fountain a little.

In a heartbeat I had both girls with their heads submerged in a fountain, fancy tea dresses and all! Rest assured they had a fabulous time.

At some point in the desert garden the girls started taking really hysterical videos of each other, complete with direction. Most of the videos involved sitting on a cactus and then running around in crazy circles. For your viewing pleasure:

I had a fantastic time with the girls today and know that they did as well. I will try to give these experience-type-gifts more often now! I also am stunned by this snapshot I got of Matilda walking today. A glimpse of my teenaged daughter: