A Return to Anderson Japanese Gardens

Now that I'm finished with my spring vacation travel series, before I go on a new adventure this summer and fall, I thought I'd share a few staycations and small road trips we've enjoyed this year.

For Mother's Day we once again met up with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren in Rockford, Illinois.  It is about a four hour drive for both of us.  We met here once before in 2021.  Then we had only two grandchildren with one on the way.  You can see that post HERE.

2025

2021

Same Spot!

My what a difference a few years make!  In addition to a growing family, the weather was completely different.  Last time we met up it was cold (in the 50's) and overcast.  We also met during Covid.  You needed a reservation to get into the gardens.  Visiting the Japanese Gardens was actually more pleasant then.  It was so crowded this year, and HOT!  The blinding sun also was not the best for photography.  I got much better pictures on our first visit.

It was so hot, everyone needed water before our excursion began.  The kids got a kick out of this natural outdoor drinking fountain.  I would never know we could drink from it had there not been water cups right next to it.

You can purchase food to feed the ducks, geese, and koi.  They are so friendly.  This one walked right up to me.  He probably thought I had food, but I did not. 

The grandsons love climbing all over the rocks in this garden.  This is the perfect garden to take small children to.  There are so many narrow paths for them to run and explore.  Rocks for climbing are in abundance.  Waterfalls, rivers, bridges, waterfowl, koi, and so much more provides lots of interest for them.

If you're interested in more facts about the Anderson Japanese Gardens, I would encourage you to read my 2021 post where I cover more of the garden's history and highlights.   I don't want to just regurgitate everything here again.  I prefer to focus on our more recent experience.

My daughter, her husband, and all their children.

The Lily-of-the-Valley was blooming when we were there.  Mine at home did not bloom till a month later. 

The kids were excited to see turtles; except, I was the only one who noticed them and then pointed them out for the grandchildren.  Everyone else walked right past them thinking they were statues.

I often wonder what the Japanese Gardens would be like other times of the year.  Both times we were there, it was spring so all their azaleas and rhododendrons were in bloom.  Japanese Gardens aren't known for their flowers, so is it mostly green in the summer?  I don't know.

My daughter was envious of my hat so I let her try it on.  I thought it went great with her dress!

I can't believe how close this goose came to the boys!

Throwing small pebbles into the lake with grandpa.

Although there aren't any sweeping flower gardens in Japanese Gardens there is so much color and interest with all the different types of foliage.

There are many Japanese style buildings throughout the gardens.

It was so hot, my daughter and her children  enjoyed getting their feet wet.

It was exciting to see a mommy duck with her babies!

My son with three of the grandkids. 

The waterfalls are always a sight to behold!

Young love!

They have lots of rocks and boulders in Japanese Gardens.  I love how the delicate blossoms contrast with the hard rock.

After our day at the gardens, it was now time to cool down at the pool.  I dipped in the pool earlier, so I was just enjoying watching everyone else.

 It was a great Mother's Day weekend.  We first met at a nearby park for a picnic lunch before heading over to the gardens.  After the gardens we checked into our hotel then had dinner at Olive Garden.  I hadn't been there in years, and the grandchildren really seemed to enjoy it.  We enjoyed the pool both at night and again in the morning, then we headed out for brunch and said our goodbyes.  It's always hard to say to goodbye, but we have many memories to carry us through till we meet again.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

"Beat the Heat" with Ageless Style

Ageless Style is a monthly style challenge and link up for women of all ages.   Each month we pick a different theme and style an outfit based on that theme.  This month's theme is "Beat the Heat" and was picked by Me!

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I don't know about where you live but this summer seems hot to me.  Or maybe, it's just normal summer weather as the past few summers for us in Wisconsin have been quite cool and rainy.  I don't seem to be able to handle the heat as well as I used to.  I've been waking up at 5:00 am and getting in the garden early so that I'm in the house by noon.  My flowers and vegetable garden are absolutely loving all this heat, as you can probably tell by my background. 😀

I chose the theme "Beat the Heat"  for this month's Ageless Challenge because we are now right smack in the middle of summer and I wanted to see what the ladies of Ageless Style, who are located all over this great nation and Canada,  wear in the dog days of summer to keep cool.  

My absolutely favorite item to wear on hot days is a skort.  I usually wear athletic skorts like THIS ONE.  I have had these athletic skorts for 8 years and I still wear them regularly and they still look brand new.  What a great investment that turned out to be.  But this summer, I wanted more variety in my skorts so I purchased two new ones:  the one I'm pictured in today and a khaki skort with a cool belt that'll I'll have to show you another day.

I purchased my skort from JCPenney and I see it is on sale today and comes in several other colors and patterns.  Hmm, do I need to order more? 😀

The skirt is on the short side, but longer than most pairs of shorts would be.  But because a skort has shorts underneath, I feel quite comfortable with the length.  

Another way I like to keep cool in the summer heat is to wear white.  You hear a lot of women say they love to wear black;  I love to wear white.  I think it's so clean and fresh looking and in the summer it reflects sunlight and heat keeping the body cooler compared to darker colors which absorb heat.  I especially love white tops that are lightweight, thin, and loose;  although I am getting a little annoyed with how thin most tops are these days.  They are so thin that they are see-through and I have to wear tank top underneath.  If I have to wear two tops, that defeats the purpose of keeping cool with a thin top.😆 

My top is new this year.  I found it at TJMaxx.

So how are you keeping cool this summer?  I'd love to hear from you.

Now be sure to check out how the other ladies in the group are keeping cool and link up with us as well.

Amy ~ Amy’s Creative Pursuits

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Bo ~ Bo's Bodacious Blog

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Jennifer ~ Overflowing with Thankfulness

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Joanne ~ My Slice of Life

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Jodie ~ Jodie’s Touch of Style

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Leslie ~ Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

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Marsha~ Marsha in the Middle

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Mireille ~ Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

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Have A Great Day!  Amy

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The Jamestown Settlement

This is the final post in a travel series.  In this series, we are headed east starting in Wisconsin and going all the way to Virginia to see the home of George Washington and Colonial Williamsburg.  To start at the beginning, go HERE where  we stop in Indiana to celebrate Easter with my daughter, son-in-law, and our grandchildren.

After seeing the site of the original Jamestown Settlement the day before, the next morning we headed back to Jamestown to learn all about how the early colonists lived in Jamestown.  The Jamestown Settlement is located just a short drive from the original site.  This place is similar to Colonial Williamsburg:  it's a living history museum with a reconstruction of Jamestown,  a museum, and live people showing how the early colonists lived.

Outside of the living history museum is this Quadricentennial Plaza which has a sculpture of the three ships (Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery)  that arrived in Jamestown with the first colonists and  the flags of all fifty U.S. State displayed in the order they were admitted to the Union. 

After we paid our admission fee (just $20) we saw a short movie title "1607:  A Nation Takes Root".  This film traced the evolution of the Virginia Company that sponsored the Jamestown Colony and also looked at the relationship between the colonists and the Powhatan Indians.

Now, the smart thing to do would be to walk through the very large, and nice museum first, then explore the grounds.  We did it the opposite;  we decided to explore the grounds in the cool of the morning, and also while it was less crowded, and then tour in the museum in the heat of the afternoon.

Once outside the first thing we saw was this memorial.  It was erected in 1957  to commemorate the settlement established in 1607.

Going outside first was a smart idea.  We had the whole place to ourselves, if only for a short while, and got some great photos.  Pictured below is the outside of the James Fort.  It is surrounded on all sides by a tall picket fence.  

There are cannons inside to protect the colonists from the Indians.

You could freely walk inside all the buildings and see how the soldiers/colonists lived.  There was a lot of armor, and weapons displayed.  They also had helmets and breast plates for small children or silly husbands to try on.

Some of the buildings had actors inside dressed in period costume demonstrating a skill of the early Colonists.  You could talk to them and ask questions.

One of the buildings was a church but this public building was also used for legislative meetings as well.  Those pews do not look very comfortable.  I wonder how long the sermons were?😆

In addition to the Anglican Church, the re-created fort had a court of guard, a storehouse, and a governor's house all with thatched roofs.

Pictured below is the inside of the storehouse. 

These employees were giving a cooking demonstration.  They had live chickens running around.

I would imagine this more ornate bed was in the Governor's house as none of the other beds we saw looked like this.  

This man was showing the tools he used in the practice of medicine.

And what is a living history museum without a blacksmith?

When we were done touring all the buildings inside the James Fort, we saw a Musket Demonstration!

When we exited the fort, we saw colonists working in the garden.  

Our next stop was to head to the James River to see life-size replicas of two of the three ships that brought the Colonists to the New World.

You could walk onto the ship and go below deck!

I had to ask the employees if these were really life size replicas because they seemed so small.  It was hard to believe that they held all the colonists, the crew,  plus their supplies, but he assured me they were accurate.

It is really fun and exciting to get on these ships and just imagine what the journey must have been like for the early colonists.  I can't even fathom how difficult it must have been.  We get upset today is our two hour plane ride has a layover.

After touring the ships and soaking in the James River views, we then headed over to the Paspahegh Town.  the Paspahegh were one of 30-plus Algonquian-speaking tribal groups that belonged to the Powhatan paramount chiefdom.  The re-creation of their town was based on archaeological findings along the James River, oral tradition from Virginia's tribes, and descriptions of illustrations recorded by English Colonists in the 17th century.

The town is located in a wooded clearing and has reed-covered houses with cooking areas, fields, and a ceremonial circle of carved wooden posts. Here guests learn about the traditional culture of these Indigenous people.  Historical interpreters discuss and demonstrate traditional Powhatan cultural activities such as hunting, fishing gathering, preparing food, processing animal hides, crafting a dugout canoe, making pottery, and weaving. 

It was really fun to be able to inside one of the huts and see and learn how the people kept warm with a fire.  It was really smokey if you stood up, but if you were sitting or laying down it wasn't smokey at all.

Well, by now we explored all the outside grounds so we went back inside to enjoy the museum.  It was a very nice, large museum with lots of great exhibits and movies.   The museum features a collection of more than 500 period objects from Virginia, Europe, and Africa.  Visitors can compare and contrast each of the three cultures and the impact of the 1619 historical events that shaped Virginia

My favorite part of the museum was the "Bacon's Rebellion" 4-D multi-sensory movie where we learned the story of a 1676 armed rebellion of Virginia colonists and how the town of Jamestown ceased to be.  Such a sad story.

And that concludes my travel series to Colonial Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle.  My next vacation will be to Door County, Wisconsin in August and after that we are going back to Branson, Missouri in the fall.   In the meantime, I plan on showing you lots of staycations.  

Have a Great Week!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more information on the Historical Triangle, check out these posts:

The Governor's Palace

The George Wythe House, the Capitol, and More! 

The Courthouse, Raleigh Tavern, and Merchants Square in Colonial Williamsburg

Things to See and Do in Yorktown

Historic Jamestown