Day 196: A Garden Walk

This morning, the children and I took our walk at the Ewing Cultural Center. It is a beautiful estate that is now home to the Illinois State University Shakespeare Festival. We walked there this morning to enjoy the gardens (there are several different types - the  Japanese Garden was my favorite) and to watch a play that introduces William Shakespeare & his plays to young children. It was called The Magical Mind of Billy Shakespeare.

The walk was perfect - not to hot or cold. We strolled more than "briskly" walking, but we toured the gardens for an hour...so I am counting it! :)

The play was delightful. The play was a synopsis of 3 plays - A Midsummer's Night Dream, Romeo & Juliet, and King Richard III. My children recognized all 3 plays! Woohoo! I have done something right! (Man, I wish I could remember what it was though....). The play was also interactive and my children really got into it. At the end of the play, they gave a quick history lesson - did you know there are many phrases ("out of thin air") and words (puking) that Shakespeare invented? They also did a little promo of the 3 plays that will be featured this year at the festival (A Comedy of Errors, Macbeth & Failure: A Love Story - which is not a Shakespeare play, but inspired by him). The troupe let us pick which play we wanted to see as a preview. Our audience chose Macbeth. My children were riveted!

Anyway, not allowed to take pictures of the gardens, but we were allowed to take a picture with the actors inside the courtyard:

I must add the children were very inspired & created their own plays when we got home. I watched the Comedy of S, the Tragedy of Z, and the History of K - the plays incorporated some of the scenes they saw in The Magical Mind of Billy Shakespeare. A great, great, great day!

BTW, thank you for indulging a more "family" post on my journey blog...

Happy Walking!