Natureful Spring!

 Now that today is going to be 90, I am reflecting on our wonderful spring of 2015.  Our neighborhood water retention pond has been rumored to have an alligator but this year we finally saw it ourselves and several times, both on the grass and in the water (above)

This became the big excitement, our family would ride our bikes around the pond almost every day, and when we had guest like my parents and Kathy for Passover and Global Austin visitors (above, photo credit, our buddy who fishes and first pointed out the gator to us) we would go look for it.  This time we were successful.  

On our first neighborhood friend Wednesday afternoon playgroup, a news crew was also at the park.  People from the neighborhood were concerned about the gator and had called.  Our kids got to be the examples of how close children play next to alligator habitat, I was interviewed and it was very exciting. The news crew never spotted it though.

 One day when we were trying to take family bluebonnet pics in a different park, this little killdeer bird make a bunch of noise and tried to get us away from her nest.  The girls really wanted to find her eggs but we didn't let them because we knew we wouldn't be able to see them in the grass.  A few days later at our park, we came along another killdeer doing the same thing.  We stepped carefully and Lydia spotted her nest of 4 tiny eggs!

 For about two weeks we would go check on it daily.  The mama never was too sure about us but didn't always do her fake hurt flying away.  At the LBJWC Gloria got to pretend to be mama killdeer.

 Then one day we arrived and there were four perfect little babies in the nest!!

 "Get away from my babies"

Like deer, since they are ground birds they hatch ready to walk.  We saw them that afternoon, again that evening, the next day and then the third day the whole family was gone.

 In addition to baby birds and gators, this has been a great spring for bugs.  Flower trees were covered with bees and butterflies (like this one at church) and one day at the pond, all of our bluebonnets were covered with ladybugs. The girls also found a little turtle at the pond, which we have now in our fish tank~new pet!

Back to the gator, the TPWD game warden was tired of getting calls about people who didn't want it there and about kids harassing it, so he decided it needed to be caught and relocated.  The HOA had a meeting but the decision had already been made.  Gloria's head got on the news again from that one.  So currently there are two traps out (which are huge hooks with chicken on them) but no word on if the gator has been caught and taken away.  This was unsuccessfully attempted last year. 

Goliad Camping

Here we go, week two of Spring Break, off to Goliad State Park and camping.  It sprinkled on us the drive there and we quickly set up our tent.

The rain stopped and we enjoyed exploring their short trails, the mission and riding bikes again as a family of four!!

Dinner and s'mores.

The edge of the highway had beautiful bluebonnets and our first large groups to see of the season.  

We woke up to an amazing green world on St. Patrick's day.  Other years, we had really learned about the cultural and history of the holiday but this year we focused on the color green.

We went birding as a family and the girls were able to sit still and observe.  They were excited about the cardinals which is a good reminder to be excited about common yet beautiful things.

Then we hiked around and did a second day of crafts at the mission with the rangers.

Inside, they got to ring the bell (once per hour) and light candles.  After missing the inside of the Alamo, it was great to spend time in here.

The nightly rain forecast was 100% and we were the only people in our tent circle.  They had open shelters so we decided to move and it was a good decision.  It poured all night long!

It is so great to all be biking and we went down to the river for some fishing.  Caleb caught a whooper!

We got Junior Ranger backpacks that had id books as well as journals to record your experiences and leave for others.  We had fun reading what others wrote and were proud of Gloria's writing!

"Gloria, 6. March 17, 2015 (a butterfly creating a beautiful oops) My caught a catfish and we saw a tree with a bee hive"

Back at the campsite we had dinner including green peeps.  We stayed dry from the rain in our nice shelter.  Next morning, we rode around, rang the bell and packed up.  A great camping trip!

San Antonio

Spring Break!  The girls' school has a two week break and Caleb was able to take both off!  We had two sets of plans and last minute both got canceled, so we seized that day and planned something new.  Caleb and I checked to find a LQ with an indoor pool (that was working) and decided to go to San Antonio!  We stopped at Natural Bridge Cavern on the way down.  Here is the Natural Bridge over the cavern.

We did a self paced tour with lots of other people.

Its a big cave with lots of features.

There were several other spring break activities like this maze.  The girls did it together and were A Mazing :) really they worked together and didn't get frustrated.  

We checked into our hotel and enjoyed the cool pool and hot tub.  We played water animal charades and had fun splashing.  It has been months since we had been in a pool.

We got all dolled up (though it was cold so we just wore jackets over their Mexican dresses) and headed to the Market Square.  We ordered a big Mexican meal (and having kids-you never know what to expect-we got everyone their own thing and Gloria ate one bite of her meal, though she had no problem finishing her ice cream sopipilla, then the next day we ordered three big hamburgers to split and the girls each ate a whole one) and enjoyed the Mariachi music.  Second half of our meal we didn't talk at all, we just listened to the trumpet blaring at us.  

We then walked around the market area and saw this family remembrance shrine.  After participating in Dia delos Muertos the girls were really interested.  They also had spending money so much of our trip was spent counting money and looking at random junk, I mean, the perfect souvenir.  They both got a stone at NBC, Gloria little man & basket and Lydia a harmonic here.  Then at the Buckhorn Gloria got a necklace.

Back to the hotel, we went to bed and woke up for great LQ breakfast and didn't follow our normal MO of heading to the tourist places early but took the time for another quick dip in the pool/hot tub.

So when we got downtown the lines were long!  We walked along the river and then checked out the line to see the inside of the Alamo and decided an outside picture would be good enough for this trip. We then headed to the Buckhorn Museum and Saloon.  Lots of animal heads and horns, including a narwal, but the girls' favorites were the optical illusions including a fairy.

From there we ate lunch and headed back to the River Walk.

Watching ducks was the highlight there!

We saw our first blue bluebonnet of spring and had to take a picture.  We headed home in time to play with neighbor friends and go to bed!

ADS campout.

 Over Valentine's weekend, Austin Discovery School had an Unofficial campout at Palmetto State Park.  The weather was wonderful.  Pretty cold the first night but then nice and warm and sunny on Saturday and then we got some rain on Sunday.  150 people camped and many others came out for the day to play. This photo is from Saturday's potluck.  Caleb was working so I got the girls there after school and set up our spot.  He arrived after breakfast.

 I brought wading clothes but of course they needed to get all the way in-in February!

 The kids really enjoyed playing together.

 The campfire was a huge hit and the kids constantly were poking it.  We enjoyed s'mores!  The last night I joined a group of adults that sang until quiet hours.  Campfire songs with guitars!

 There was no way to get a photos of how many tents but there were a lot!  This is breakfast time on Sunday morning.

 A quick hike along the Palmetto trail and then fishing time that Caleb hosted before getting rained out and heading home.

Paddleboat fun with Tigerlily and her dad from Gloria's class.