Byrd Park and the Mystery Statue

It's 3:18 pm and I'm just now getting a moment to drink my afternoon cup of coffee as the kids nap. I want so badly to nap too. But I also know I haven't blogged in a long time. I need to do this. There is a bag of cheerios in my floor, the pantry cabinets are wide open, an open bag of powdered sugar sits on top of the chair that the kids were using to climb into the pantry. My house is a mess. But it's okay. It's like this everyday at this time. What more can I expect out of a 4 year old, 3 year old and now 10 month old. This is their preschool and it's going to be messy! The cleaning will always be there, just like the laundry will always be there. So I choose to ignore the mess for a moment and blog instead. It's good to remember and reflect on all these beautiful pictures.

Most recently, I decided to go exploring the city of Richmond with Tiny and my good friend Chelsea. Chelsea brought along her little boy and all the joy she has for life. She was ready to go exploring
with me, packing her Gatorade and walking shoes. I, on the other hand, don't ever seem to come prepared. So sandals would have to do and an off brand coke for our stroll. I told Chelsea I had never been to Byrd Park and was most interested in finding the statue of a man who sits on a horse. Not even quite sure we were in the correct location, we set off to find him.

Our journey started at Fountain Lake. With no place in mind to go, we just...went. "Let's walk here, let's walk there. Oh look at these beautiful homes! Wouldn't it be awesome to live there?" Jokingly, we wondered if we could just knock on one of homeowners' doors and ask them what they did for a living.

By accident, we stumbled upon a brick walkway that led to a huge monument. As we got closer, we could see that it was the War Memorial Carillon, a memorial to Virginia's World War I servicemen and servicewomen. It was just beautiful and most definitely full of history.

Chelsea noticed what looked like a stage, so we walked over to that as well. It was the Dogwood Dell, a place where outdoor concerts are often held.

Sadly, we never found the man on the horse but we did end up finding Columbus and a waterfall. We stopped there to take a few photos.

All in all, we had a wonderful morning out exploring just a small part of our wonderful city. There is so much history here and all it takes is just someone willing to go exploring with you. At the end, Chelsea asked me if I wanted to keep searching for the man on a horse. There was just no time left with preschool pick up being right around the corner. But I told her, we would come back and find this mystery statue, together.