Mercer Arboretum

We took a rather warmish(100+degree) trip to the Mercer Arboretum today. Eli's in uniform because he had a meeting with the director of the Arboretum about building bluebird houses for his Eagle Project and donating them to the arboretum.

I thought the grounds, landscaping, hardscaping etc were beautiful. Unfortunately we had rather unpleasant encounter with the director. The fish pond above is right outside the Visitor's Center where the kids used the restroom and Eli and Luke and I took turns watching the little ones. While I was inside with Eli (within 20ft of my kids and in plain view) the director came through as Brigham was standing where you see him sitting. I got chewed out like I don't think any stranger has ever chewed me out. Needless to say I sincerely wish we'd chosen another venue for this Eagle Service Project. He was rather apologetic after he found out I was Eli's Mom but I was so shocked at his lack of tact and diplomacy. One would've thought I'd stripped Brig down and let him jump in with the fish while pulling out their plants.