Another visit to Meijer Gardens

I've shared several times about our visits to Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Our daughter and SIL gave us a membership there and we love to go and walk around different areas.
They decorate for the different seasons and we were anxious to see the Fall decorations.

This is entering the gardens.  They had mums all over, it's supposed to have one of the largest displays of mums in the state.  They also had these pyramids of pumpkins and gourds along the paths.

This is a sculpture I hadn't seen before, and I thought it was pretty sweet.

They have a large Japanese Garden that we decided to walk around on this visit.

After we walked the Japanese Garden, we walked to the farm area which was loaded with mums and pumpkins.

The paths through the woods had lights strung through them and barrels that had lights in them.  I'm sure it's really pretty at night.

They had pumpkins out in the woods along the paths too, and they are also lit at night.

Our last section to check was the wetlands walk.  Can you see the crane and heron out near the plants?

Another cute sculpture along the walk.

Here we are, walking back up to the building after spending about 3 hours walking through different areas of the gardens.

We're so thankful to have this place near us.  We've enjoyed it in all seasons!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Here's a recipe I tried recently. I love sheet pan dinners and when I saw this one, I knew it would be good.  It didn't take long to get on the pan and we both really enjoyed it.

Oven Roasted Chicken and Veggies

2 teaspoons dried sage
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups baby carrots
1 pound baby potatoes, quartered
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper and spritz with olive oil.
Mix together seasonings and put half in a bowl or bag. Stir in about half of olive oil until combined.
Add carrots and potatoes and stir or shake until they are coated with the oil and seasoning mix.
Spread veggies onto the prepared sheet pan.
Place chicken on top of the veggies. 
Drizzle remaining oil onto chicken and sprinkle remaining seasonings onto the chicken and rub in.
Stir together the balsamic vinegar and the honey. Drizzle over the chicken and veggies.
Bake for about 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.