Thanksgiving in Little Rock

It was MiL's 80th birthday on Thanksgiving this year, so we went down to Little Rock to celebrate with her.  Arline bought her a bottle of champagne, so we celebrated in style with that and chocolate cake-yummy!!!

The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we climbed Pinnacle Mountain on Friday.  Sam and I climbed together-Ben just took off like a gazelle and of course Maggie followed right behind him.  We didn't even see them until we got to the top

The views from the top are always beautiful

Little Maggs

Ben and Maggie at the top

with Daddy

On the way back down....

Sam and Maggie

After we climbed Pinnacle, we went to eat pizza for lunch and then walked down by the river

Pinnacle Mountain

I love these trees

Maggie on a big bale of hay

Baby possum we found along the way

Our maple tree

Our maple tree has been fantastic this year, especially when the sun shines on it

Venturing into the garden

Well, we finally ventured outside.  It really would have been a beautiful day if it had been a little warmer or the wind wasn't as strong.  As it was, it was pretty cold to be outside for too long, well for wandering around anyway.....
I think Garden Glow has already started, or will be starting this week, and they have it all laid out now.  The usual ornaments are in the fountain by the entrance

One of the few trees with any leaves left on it....

We went in the Linnean House, one of the camellias was in full bloom

I love this camellia bonsai, bet I could kill it in a matter of days, I have no luck with bonsais

"Seven Swans a-Swimming"

"Six Geese a-Laying"....

I took a picture of this tree last month, it is still hanging on with most of its leaves still green

My "monthly tree"  I had to climb over the tinsel barrier to get this picture

No leaves left on this one.....

We went in the Climatron-beautiful plant in full bloom....

The ginger was flowering too

Wax plant

My son

Ben and his mum

The waterfall

Final tree pic for this month

Christmas wreaths

The nice thing about going to MBG when it's cold is that there aren't that many people around. It was so quiet around the wreaths today, that I could easily get some good pictures of the ones  I liked best.....

Gardenland Express at MBG

Ben and I met Arline at the gardens today. It was very cold, so we did most things inside. Gardenland Express opened yesterday, so we went in to get a sneak peek.  They have completely changed it this year.  It's the first time they haven't had the huge tree in the middle, so it seemed much lighter and airy. 

They usually build the tree around the fountain, but this year you can see it.  Looks lovely with all the plants around it

They are celebrating the poinsettias this year, so the scenes were mostly Mexican style

Love this giant poinsettia tree

This train had little cactus gardens in the trailers

This was my favourite poinsettia

There goes Ben.....

Some of the plants are still in bud, but will be lovely when they all come out