Springtime in the Suburbs

Last year at this time when we were house-hunting we'd drive by this sea of flowers every weekend and I determined that when we lived here I'd take the kids and get some pictures there. Now that we live here I see this lovely sight everyday. The kids let me dress them up and take a few pictures of them. And I mean only a few. 

Lana refuses to set eyes on my camera so I'll consider this a practice round prior to taking pictures in the blue bonnets in a few weeks.

Happy St. Pat's

In honor of St. Patrick's Day we did some holiday crafting last week. Clark doesn't quite know what St. Patrick's is about but he loved the idea of cutting, gluing, and glitter. So that's what we did. I saw these cute crepe paper rainbows on Pinterest and it seemed easy enough. Most importantly short enough for the attention span of a 3 year-old. 

Clark loves his little "rain-a-bows" and we had a fun time crafting our festive decorations together.

Rained Out at Brazos Bend State Park

We decided to change things up last Saturday and visit Brazos Bend State Park. It's the closest state park to us at just under 30 minutes away AND its claim to fame is that it's home to alligators. Lots of them, just roaming out and about. Once we were in the park the first hiking trail we took led us not to alligators, but to a vulture convention. It was eerie so we left Creepsville and headed over to the more populous area where the alligators are.

We saw a few alligators and some bright pink birds from an observation pier and loved looking at all the live oak trees with Spanish moss.

Though I had hoped not to encounter an alligator on the trail we were looking forward to seeing a fair amount of wildlife. Instead, all we saw after starting down the trail was rain, rain, and more rain. At first it was a light sprinkle. NBD. Then it turned into a downpour and we were speed walking our way next to the swamp, through the woods, back to the car. Even at that pace it was still a good 30-minute walk. 

Ah...the family memories. It was a beautiful place and the greens were so vivid in the rain. Some day we hope to go back when the forecast is a little less precipitous.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2014

March means rodeo in Houston so the kids and I packed up to spend the day at Reliant Park with five of our cousins. I've never gone during the day with kids but it was a blast. We took in all the sights, smells, and sounds of the event that is Houston rodeo (except the rodeo part!). Outside Reliant Stadium, where the actual rodeo takes place, there is a carnival and exhibits for kids. You can buy a deep-fried anything from various vendors from Oreos to Snickers to Nutella to funnel cake. 

We had a couple of tickets that allowed Clark to get on a ride for free. While we were waiting for all the cousins to arrive he really wanted to ride on the VW bugs car ride. He was very excited to get in and kept asking me and the ride operator, "How do you make it go?!" With each passing minute he was less and less excited, to the point where he almost broke into a cry. When I asked him what was wrong he said he wanted me to ride with him. It must've been a little scary to sit there all by himself. By the time the ride started he was past the point of enjoying it and wouldn't even smile.

From there we moved on to the Fun on the Farm exhibit for kids. Clark planted a tomato, fed some (plastic) hens, posed on a tractor, saw some sheep, and milked a (rubber) cow. He sold all his goods at the farmers' market and was rewarded with some cash to spend at the grocery store. Lana even got some money just for riding along. The kids each got a box of raisins from the store and I think that was Lana's favorite part of the whole day. A big box of raisins all to herself. 

From there we went inside Reliant Center to see some real farm animals but it was a little tricky to navigate strollers around the throngs of school children there on field trips. We did get to see some show cows and zebus up close, though. After all that we took a lunch break then let the kids choose one ride. They all seemed interested in riding the tractors. This time Clark had a friend to ride with and appeared to have the time of his life. Things are way more fun with cousins.

To wrap up our day Aunt Jen bought the boys some cotton candy to share. It was sure a fun day!

Our First Campout

At the end of January we went on our first family camping trip with our cousins to Sam Houston State Park in Hunstville, TX. I had been sick and feeling lousy at best but I didn't want to miss watching my kids camp for the first time. The boys seemed to love everything about the trip: the camp chairs, the fire, the tents, and the rocks and sticks. And what is camping without the S'mores? I made Clark some graham crackers and brought along a bar of his special chocolate so he could experience the iconic camping treat. I'm pretty sure he liked it since he's asked for more several times since the campout.

As is more often the case in my camping memory than not, I had a horrible night's sleep. I was lying next to Clark who was coughing in my ear extensively all night. But the sun came up and we went on a short hike which was truncated due to a 100-mile race being run on the trail where we were headed. oh well. The kids still seemed to have a great time.

Although that may have been one of my least favorite camping experiences--mostly due to being sick--I'm glad I went. a little. I mean, check out this camping hunk. Oh, baby!

On a positive note, I think everyone else enjoyed themselves, we were in great company, there were no bugs, and it was neither too hot nor too cold.

Rodeo Run 2014

Steve ran the Rodeo Run 10k this morning with two of his brothers. It's one of the events that kicks off the month-long rodeo here in H-Town. He ran this race last year and I brought Clark and tiny Lana to cheer him on but he never saw us (twice!) along the race route. And it's not like there are huge cheering crowds...as in I was the only one cheering in one spot. This year I did everything I could to make sure he saw his fan club: we made signage, we all wore fluorescent clothing (and lipstick, in my case), and we were lucky enough to get a bunch of noisemakers from sponsors. And...it worked! He saw us in both locations and even gave us a thumbs up for one of the pictures. Good job to our family runners.

When they weren't watching our racers, Clark and his cousins watched the trail riders clip-clopping down one of the streets downtown. Yee-haw, Houston! Let's get this rodeo started!