Wordless Wednesday

Spring Break at the Zoo

Hitting the zoo 2 times in one week, and 3 times in one month . . .
We must really love the zoo!

What made the zoo extra special this week?

Spending the $$$ for butterfly exploration!

Zipping through the zoo on a mission:

find the zebra,

and the elephant,

and the giraffe,

and the tiger,

and the etc.

Giggling with your buddies . . .and more giggling

Freaking out at the snake exhibit!

and lots of smiles!

Finally, following the yellow brick road (or snake) right on out of the zoo. A must do every time we come. That, and climbing on the golden lions. (pics above)

Besides two trips to the zoo for Spring Break, Logan and I also spent the day at the zoo this month with the Kindergarten field trip. We had such a nice day exploring the zoo and trying to locate all the animals for his class scavenger hunt.

Getting to tour the zoo with his good school buddy made the trip extra fun for Logan, and having only 2 boys to chaperon in my group made the day extra nice for me.

Family Tennis Tournament

Taking advantage of the perfect weather lately, we had such a fun time playing tennis with our family. Mike and I haven't played for a while because of the circus that always ensues when we try to do something involving kids. However, we were pleasantly surprised that our kids are finally old enough that we can do some things together that used to be hard with little ones.

Logan and Makayla were actually pretty good after a little practice (maybe all that Wii time is paying off : ), and Savannah was declared the official ball collector. When the kids were wiped out after playing so hard, they headed for the shade for snack time and Mike and I got some game time.

As official ball collector, Savannah's duties included patrolling the court on her scooter and scooping up balls into her basket.

Look at that back hand!

Wordless Wednesday

Camping at Enchanted Rock

Our first camp out with our kids turned into quite an adventure.

It started out like any other camp out. We met up with 3 other families and roasted marshmallows, enjoyed yummy, gooey smores, played steal the flag in the dark, and once the kids were in bed visited around "the campfire." Because Texas has been so dry, there was a ban on fires so we improvised with lantern light. We had a great time talking with our good friends and the kids were in heaven getting to sleep under the stars for the first time. (well in a tent of course. : )

However, at about 4 AM we woke up to lightning crashing and thunder booming, followed by a torrential rainstorm that lasted for the next couple hours. I was worried our tent would blow away in the wind or that the kids would be scared, but we weathered the storm and once I assured Makayla and Logan that we would be OK, they buried their heads under their covers and fell back asleep. Savannah slept through the whole thing.

We woke up the next morning with only a few puddles in our tent, but to freezing cold wind. (At least cold for Texas) The night before was hot and humid, so it was a big shock. However, I piled all of the kids' layers of clothing on them and decided to try to enjoy the rest of our day.

We cooked a hot breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs that tasted so good in the cold. Mike also made hot chocolate for everyone that began to warm us up. We packed up the camp after breakfast and almost made it out of there before it started to rain on us again. Since the rock would be too slick to hike up Enchanted Rock we improvised on the rest of our day.

All the kids huddled up under the play ground to keep warm while the parents finished breakfast and packed up camp.

If we had gotten to hike up Enchanted Rock, this is what it looks like. These pictures were taken on the 4th of July a couple of years ago. It reminds me a little bit of Southern Utah.


After we packed up camp, Mike wanted to make the most of his day off so we took the scenic way home. We stopped through Fredericksburg, a quaint little German town that has a lot of fun ambiance.

Then, we drove off through the mist, hoping we would find some fun things to do for the day. I opened the glove box and found our state parks guide and we picked two state parks near by to stop at on the long way home.

To be continued . . .

Adventure to Johnson Farm and Pedernales Falls

What do you do when your camp out has been rained out?
Go on an adventure in the rain.

Mike had the day off, and it seemed depressing to just head home because of the rain, so we took the scenic way home and drove by two state parks. We did the Warnick Family tour (mostly from the car), but got out and braved the cold for the best parts.

Our First Stop: Lyndon B. Johson's Family Farm

Makayla, Logan and Savannah had a blast exploring this living history farm. Logan especially got a kick out of driving the wagon and sitting in the outhouse.

Life on the Johnson farm is presented as it was in 1918. Because of the cold weather, we were the only ones here, but normally you can watch as people do farm and household chores from that time period.

Our next stop: Pedernales Falls

I loved how bright green and turquoise the water looked here. Beautiful park. I guess when the water is higher, the falls run down the rock faces into the different pools. We'll have to come back and check it out again sometime when the water is higher. Maybe after all the rain we've been getting for spring break!