Airlie Gardens

After spending some time at the beach and in the pool we decided to eat lunch in our room and rest for awhile before we headed back out to go explore something else in Wilmington.  We decided to go visit Airlie Gardens.  We ended up being impressed and found walking around the gardens to be a really nice way to spend our afternoon.

Drew and I loved looking at the gardens and seeing the beautiful views and taking in the nice scenery.  We also found out when we got there, that they had frog sculptures scattered throughout the gardens.  They had turned this into a scavenger hunt for the kids, which Alden thought was really neat.  Alden loved getting to look for all the frog sculptures as we walked through the gardens.

It was still fairly hot, but there was lots of shade in the gardens which made it manageable.  We also loved that it wasn't crowded at all.  We really enjoyed this stop and found it a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Alden found his first frog sculpture.

They had some beautiful sun flowers and some beautiful large trees, providing much appreciated shade throughout the gardens.

Anders rode in the stroller and appreciated the view from there.

They had a pier connected to the gardens that you could walk out on and see some pretty views.

This was a pretty view of a creek from the pier at the edge of the gardens.

Alden found the next frog!

They had lots of views of creeks and ponds from the gardens, which made it even more picturesque.

Alden was very determined to find all of the frogs.

Drew and I both enjoyed the calm and beauty that was in the gardens.

It was so great that they had the frog sculptures placed throughout the gardens, because it kept Alden interested the whole time we were there!

There was a pretty little chapel in the middle of the gardens with a small family cemetery behind it.

We found some turtles!

A gardening frog.

I think this was one of my favorite places in the gardens.

It was a beautiful view of the pond and Alden loved that he could see tons of little fish swimming near the water's edge in the really shallow portions.

My boys enjoying watching the fish.

These pictures don't do the fountain and view justice.  It was much more beautiful than it looks in these pictures.

Alden now found the dancing frogs!

I loved the fact that they had old growth trees and some more wild looking nature scattered with the groomed and planned gardens.

Drew and Alden went into a little butterfly house that they had there while Anders and I waited outside and enjoyed a small snack.

They had some beautiful spots, but Alden was mostly interested in finding the last few frog sculptures.

This was called the Bottle Chapel and it looked to be a small building made out of glass bottles.  It was very interesting to see and very pretty,

We had a great time touring these gardens and truly enjoyed seeing them.  They were not as astounding or grand as some other gardens that Drew and I have visited but they were still beautiful and they had a unique natural beauty that was very memorable.  This was definitely well worth our time to stop and the frog sculptures just made it even more enjoyable for Alden.