Leaves, twigs and caterpillars....

One of the unexpected perks of taking photos over the past few months has been the opportunity to explore so many great places and neighborhoods around the metro. Sometimes returning to old favorites, and sometimes discovering brand new places (well, at least new to me).

Somehow I've lived in Minnesota most of my life, and I had never visited the Lake Harriet Rose Gardens.  Until Saturday.  Wow!  What a wonderful surprise.  And even more wonderful were the people I met there.

I knew Sarah through work, and was so pleased to meet her lovely family at the Rose Gardens this past weekend.  Thankfully, we were lucky enough to get a beautiful morning, and we made the most of it.



These are twins Anika and Aiden.  They just turned six (happy birthday!) and will be in first grade next fall.  And oh man, I should have worn my running shoes to keep up with them....



This dear one is sister Isabella.  She is almost nine months, and was almost as hard to keep up with as her older siblings.  Truly a family on the go!









There were fabulous places to explore at Lake Harriet, and the kids covered A LOT of ground.



What I love about this next shot, is that quite incidentally, the whole family is holding on to one another..  Shoulders, hands, backs.....Even Isabella has a fistful of Aiden's hair.

Just connected, I guess.



Turns out, it is prime caterpillar season and the twins were besides themselves searching for the crawling creatures.  Within minutes, they each had two caterpillars in hand.

So while the kids were busy exploring at the lake and building caterpillar houses, I snapped away.  Just the way I like it!































Such a beautiful family.....







Sarah and Joel, thank you so much for letting me tag along on Saturday's family adventure. It was such a pleasure!!