Bracelet Day

The week before school ended my class planned a little surprise for me. I knew something was up because I'm usually not called to all ends of the earth at the same time on my campus! The morning started off with my paper machie project. Nikita and I were planning a "Fiesta Friday" for the last day of school and we wanted Pinatas but knew we would need more than one since some of our students don't wait for very long. Anyway, the students really got into the paper machie process and we covered 5 balloons! I was very pleased with the way they listened to directions and stuck with the project.




So, on to the surprise! When I finally got back to the classroom after the "goose wild" chase the kids were all waiting for me in the room.


Nikita coordinated the idea of giving me a charm bracelet and each student put a charm on it. Andrew got me a tiny blue flip-flop because he loves shoes so much. Each charm represents a student, something they loved doing with me. I was so touched.

Here is my little "Tigger." He bounces everywhere he goes! I'm trying to show off my bracelet...not put him in a headlock.

Will and I worked together for two of the three years I worked at CRE. He has grown in so many ways and it really has been a joy to be a part of that growth. Nikita took photos of each of the students with me and the bracelet and I've GOT to get photos printed out and thank you notes written and sent. There are several families that I intend to keep in touch with. I've invested too much in their children to just not see how things continue to progress!

I'm excited and scared about moving on. I'm sad about leaving CRE and my classroom because I finally found my voice on that campus. But hey, I've learned a little more about myself and can use that new perspective in the next chapter of my education experience and I'm really looking forward to that.

Rock Climbing with Dan

On Mother's day Dan and I hiked Enchanted Rock. Mom and the boys stayed back at the camp, the granite trail from the day before was just too much for AJ & Reese's paws. The hike itself was a little more than one mile, but in that mile hike climbs 425ft in elevation which is pretty darned steep!

Dan and I took photos at the trail-head before taking off on our hike. I started off with the wide-brimmed had to shade the back of my neck, as I got a little too much sun on Saturday, but the wind kept stealing it so I had to give in and stuff it in Dan's backpack.

Here we are at the summit.

"WOO-HOO!"

With as tired as my legs were from the four mile hike the day before, I felt quite the accomplishment for summitting Enchanted Rock. After climbing 425ft in elevation, in a very short time, I revised my earlier thoughts on what tired legs feel like.

Dan ran ahead to check out some HUGE boulders. Dan looks absolutely tiny standing in front of them. You can't really see but a little kid ran into the shot and sat down at the edge of the rock.

Then Dan and I tried our hand at "bouldering". Man-o-man my hands hurt after scrambling up those rocks. I almost lost my grip a few times but was able to regain my finger hold.

Dan was quite adept at grabbing onto the granite chunks. All this and no lessons! Ah, well we had fun pretending to rock-climb...it's probably a good idea we were never more than two feet off the ground!

Surprisingly there was quite a bit of shade on top of Enchanted Rock. It's amazing to me to see how adaptive life is. Flowers, grasses, cactus, and trees clung on to every grain of soil and every drop of water on the solid surface of the Rock.

I really enjoyed our day on Enchanted Rock. Everything was so beautiful and the weather was oh so cooperative. On Saturday night, around 3am, many of the campers packed up and left because the wind picked up and sounded really scary even though it never rained. I actually got out of the sleeping bag to put away everything that we had left out on the table earlier in the evening. Of course that was after I laid there, wide-eyed, staring at the ceiling of the tent wondering if things were going to get rough and rainy or if the bad weather would quickly blow though. AJ was nervous because of the bad weather and burrowed in with me. He actually curled up under the blankets with me. He is such a snuggler!

I'm still not sure how I photographed this pretty little bird. She had been on a tree much further away but by the time I got my focus she took off. Next thing I knew she was in the tree above me and she sang a few notes while I snapped the photo and promptly flew off! I was so excited that I caught her!

It's a good thing Dan was along. He used his super-human strength to hold two massive boulders up. I am married to the strongest man in the universe!

Flora & Fauna of Enchanted Rock

I took entirely too many photos of little flowers and plants on our hike on Saturday. I've included some of my favorites.

The gnarly hole in this tree was rather deep. I tried taking a photo down into the hole but didn't want to get my hand in there!

Out on the granite flats little plants managed to scrape out an existance. This formation looks like a hard boiled egg to me. Green eggs and ham anyone?

Lovely lavender blooms with a bee in the left flower.

Most of the cactus blooms were solid yellow but this bloom had a delicious pop of orange-red at the base. It really jumped out at me.


The new cactus pads are almost soft to the touch.

Ferns curled out from under the rocks at every twist and turn of the path. A minature forest exploded in the most unlikely of places.

Just something pretty...

Isn't it amazing how life will perservere? How in the world did the tree make it on the flat of one boulder crushed up against another boulder? Looks like this shot should be on an inspirational poster about making the best of what you've got.

I should have put my hand or foot into the photo so you could really see just how tiny this cactus plant is. The cactus wasn't much bigger than the pad of my index finger.

I hope you enjoyed my plant photos. I know I had fun poking around on the trail taking them.

Hiking With Mom & the Boys

On Saturday of our visit to Enchanted Rock, Mom and I took the boys for a hike on the "scenic loop" that was described as a light hike by one of the park rangers. Well, the distance wasn't daunting but the terrain proved otherwise.

There were lots of puddles and streams for the boys to cool off in which they appreciated greatly! I carried water for them in a hand held dog dish but they weren't very interesetd in the water bowl...they wanted their agua au natural.

AJ was the adventuresome hiker. You can't really tell from this shot but this must have been a 20 foot drop that AJ and I peeked over. Some of the trail was "developed" but much of the trail was granite gravel that eventually tore up the pads of the dogs' paws. We had to scramble over boulders and through streams on the "scenic loop" and the dogs were so excited to be out on their adventure for the day that they didn't even complain about their feet.

We were pretty close to the end of the hike at this point. The dogs were obviously pooped so we rested for a while. I couldn't get a signal on my phone so I couldn't let Dan know where we were. He had gone out for a ride earlier in the day and Mom and I anticipated being back at camp long before the 4 hours that expired while we were out for the day.

We both got too much sun on our necks in spite of the reapplications of sunblock. When I was loading the backpacks with bottled water I felt a little silly packing so much H2O but we used it all! It was exhilariating! Mom is the one who taught me to camp as a child. We always had so much fun camping as a family when I was little. It was a joy to me to take mom out for the weekend and show her how much I can do!

Leave it to Reese to smile for the camera. Mom and I felt awful about having to push the dogs further but there wasn't much we could do to complete the hike. The boys didn't move once we got them back to camp but by Monday afternoon they were both back up on their feet and I got a warm welcome home from school for the day.

Dan and I have promised ourselves and each other to walk the boys more often so they don't have such delicate feet.

The Birdies are here!

Ok, so you remember the bird nest that I found in our Grapevine. Well, when we returned from Enchanted Rock on Mother's Day I discovered that the eggs had hatched but I didn't get a photo on that first visit. I feel a little guilty about poking my big nose into their nursery but I just can't help it! I'm so curious about them!

So, I couldn't wait any longer for an update. There are three fuzzy little birdies in the nest. I'm so glad that horrible storm didn't knock them out of their cozy little home last week. I know this isn't a very good photo but I was trying to be quick. At least in the photo you can make out a beak and some wings.

Silverlake Tri - Pearland Texas

Ok, so the post title is a little misleading! Dan and I stayed with Becca & Grant again and got to spend some fun time with Connor. He's such a little ham for the camera. He is crawling all over the place and even sometimes crawls up on all four.

You can tell he is gonna be mischievous can't you?!? Connor is super coordinated and constantly moving. Talk about a hand full! I could just nibble him up!

Here is someone you might know! I didn't manage to get a shot of Dan on the bike. He is just too fast for me. I did, however, capture a photo of him about 1/2 way through the run. At this point he was third. It was pretty exciting to catch him two times on the course for the day. When we saw him on the bike I shouted, "Good Morning!" and he waved but it turns out he didn't actually hear me shout good morning. The Tri had over 500 participants and he finished 20th overall so WOO-HOO for Dan!

I've got more Enchanted Rock posting to do now...

Rock formations at Enchanted Rock

This rock reminds me of Venus carvings / fertility carvings from the Paleolithic Period although it's obvious whoever placed the rocks on top for a head thought the same thing!

The rock formation in the center of the photo looked like a hooded cobra to me and mom. I have included a blown up copy so you can see the snake better! So many of the rocks looked like animals or people, it was almost like cloud watching.

Mom and I liked this rock formation. It looked like three clay jugs perched atop a well.

I think this one looks like a clay model of a face. I included a blow up so you can see him better. I took way to many photos on our four mile scenic hike around the base of Enchanted rock. There was so much to look at. The trail was a lot more challenging that we originally believed but I'll get to that in subsequent posts...

Here is the Rooster head!

We have house guests!

We have a 'volunteer' grape vine on the side of the house in front. The weight of the vine has made the trellis lean over. I reached into the grape vine the other day to pull it back up and a bird flew out which scared the heck out of me!

It was after that I discovered the beautiful nest and eggs! I'm not sure what kind of bird we've got nesting in our grape vine but the momma bird is grey and white on her wings while her eggs are light blue with brown speckels.

Upon returning from our camping trip to Enchanted Rock I peeked at the nest for an update and we've got three fuzzy baby birds! I didn't take a photo because of the flash...I didn't think that would be very nice. Besides, I think I'm pushing my limits with momma bird and I don't want to endanger the babies.

My Gerber Daisies are back in full bloom. On either side you can see that my Begonias made it through another winter.


The folks at the Austin Nature Center said that birds re-use nests so I'm suppose to leave it alone once the birds fly away.

Babysitting Eli

Dan and I spent a lovely Saturday evening with Eli when John and Darby went to their friends' wedding a few weeks ago. The weather was awesome so we played outside for a bit.

Eli's truck had already zoomed out of the frame for this photo but he was having a grand old time zooming the truck back and forth across the patio.

Uncle Dan and Eli had a great time showing each other the cool noises they can make.

A little explanation is necessary for this photo...

Eli needed to potty so he dropped his drawers, whipped off the diaper and made water...He was just going about his business so confidently that we just assumed he was doing an everyday duty. This is his independent attempt to put his jeans back on and I scooped him up right after this photo so we could go in for bath and bed time.

I took a super cute video but am having difficulties getting it uploaded...perhaps I'll figure that out at a future time...