Irvine Nature Center Family Summer Picnic Perfect

Every suburbanite needs the balm of nature after the hectic whizz of Reisterstown Road's big box stores, and strip malls.  The oasis is off Garrison Forest Road. Pretty? Yes. Picnicable? Yes. Are there hollow logs for the kids to play they are foxes in? Yes.

Encourage the kids to walk just a wee bit on the Vista Loop to see a bucolic vista, with butterflies flitting over the field. Sitting at the pagoda overlooking the view, it is the karmic opposite of sitting in 695 traffic. It soothes. When was the last time you watched the kids roll down a grassy knoll happily, carefreely? For me it had been too long, what with swim class, and camp, and, and, and.

Research is showing more and more the sad dearth of outside activities that kids participate in, aside from sports. Take the time to "dolce far niente," as the Italians would say, and "sweetly do nothing" with your family outside this summer, commenting together on the beauty of the butterflies.