Monday, April 25, 2011

Brazos Bend State Park

On Saturday, we went a state park that is south of Houston, about 40 mins from our house. It is known for having tons of alligators. The rumors were absolutely correct! (The alligators are used to having humans around, and don't attack, but we took precautionary measures. We made it a point to stay back when we saw them, and keep the kids in a stroller/carry the kids the whole time--just in case.)

First, we met up with our wonderful friends, the Ottens.


And visited the gift shop where they showed us this milk snake. Both girls got to touch him.


We saw dragonflies under glass.

 And saw some animals that had undergone taxidermy, like this raccoon.

 We got to "pet" a baby alligator. Lydia was afraid of it at first. But, Julia really wanted to hold it.
Then we went exploring.
We wanted to see the alligators, in the wild. This little guy was sitting under the dock, staying in the shade to keep cool.
 Look at this view! This is the prettiest natural landscape I've seen in these parts.

 There's a look-out tower on one of the trails. We got a friend to snap this picture of us from the top.
 See the alligator on the walkway? He's well disguised, but he's there.
 This is a picture I took from the top of the tower. That reptile looks small from the tower, but that's a farse.

Here's one last picture of my two sweeties at the park.

We had such a great time at the park with our friends on Saturday! We learned a lot about wildlife in this area, had a wonderful picnic lunch together, and got in our exercise for the day. It was one of the best days I've had! More Texas exploration will be coming for the Stewart family! Love, Amber

Thursday, April 14, 2011

My Kids are Crazy for Spring.

On the way home from church last night, I didn't turn on the music, or start asking the girls questions about their evening like I usually do. I was in my own little world, and apparently so were they. When I came out of my trance, I heard the girls pretending that Julia was the mom, and Lydia was the doctor. They were vehemently arguing about who was going to go get the imaginary, invisible baby and hand it to the other. When they couldn't come to an agreement, I told them that they needed to start talking nicely to each other or they were going to have to stop talking for a few minutes. They decided to change the game at that point. Both of the girls become lady bugs. Julia told Lydia that she was going to be the nice one, and Lydia would be the grumpy one. Then Julia was the grumpy ladybug. Then Lydia was the grumpy one again. Then the game changed yet again. Julia was the mom, and Lydia was the cat from the circus. Hmmmm..it was an entertaining half hour ride home. My girls' imaginations are definitely in full bloom--right in time for spring! Happy Spring to you all!! Love, Amber

Monday, April 11, 2011

No Time Like the Present!

Yikes! I can hardly find time to blog these days!! I figured that I better get on here, even if I don't have anything witty to say....

The weekend before last, Dave, the Girls and I went camping with our Sunday School class. The retreat was a lot of fun and extremely exhausting. I think I'm still recovering....
Some of the highlights of the trip:
--Laughing at Lydia for calling our friend Terrance "My Terrance". The thing is that with her little toddler pronunciation, it came out as "My Parents". She kept saying "Dere's My Parents!" while pointing at Terrance. People kept pointing to Dave and I and saying "You're parents are right back there, Lydia." It was not us Lydia was looking for!
--Enjoying the most adventurous hay ride I've ever been on.
--Observing the most beautiful, magnificent, glorious layers of glittering stars.
--Not wearing make-up the whole weekend!
--Visiting with some wonderful people.
--Watching my kids play with tons of kids at any given time.
--Camping out where there are real bathrooms with running water and showers.
--Playing in the bouncy house with the kids.
--Having church with my kiddos just a few steps away.
--Eating some bites of Dave's peanut butter cup smore. (I hardly make my own desserts anymore. This time, I just ate off of Dave's smore, and ate the rest of the girls smores. I guess I sub-consciously believe the calories don't count if I don't "own" the dessert.)
--Trying deep fried oreos for the first time. --Thinking about it both delights and disgusts me.
--Not doing a bit of cooking the whole weekend.

Some things that were a little less than fantastic about the retreat:
--Picking the delicious meat out of a wonderfully made breakfast casserole. (Lent is over in less than 2 weeks!)
--Eating veggie burgers while everyone else ate pulled pork that had been smoking for 24 hours.
--Trying to get the girls to sleep.
--Hitting my arm on the bouncy house ladder, and getting a huge, ugly bruise. I thought everything was soft in a bouncy house. I wouldn't have dove through the opening had I known that the ladder was filled with metal rods instead of air.
--Realizing the enormous amount of laundry we created while on the trip.
--Wishing I would have packed cowboy/girl boots and/or hiking boots for me, Dave and the girls. Duh! we were camping in TEXAS! It should have been a given. Perhaps if I had been packing in a less than hurried state....
--Cleaning up the filth that accumulated on the outside of our van. Dirt roads will that for ya'.
--Recovering, recovering, recovering.

All in all, we had a fabulous time on the retreat, and I am thankful that we went. On the way home, Julia asked something similar to this: "When do we get to go camping again? Can I have some gum? I would really like to sleep in a tent again sometime. When can we go fishing again? Can I PLEASE have some gum?" We'd been in the car less than 5 minutes when all of that started.

This last weekend, Dave and I had the blessed opportunity to hang out with some fantastic new friends at their house. (Praise Jesus!) We watered our garden and played around the house. We went to church and enjoyed a wonderful and convicting sermon. We also painted our hallway. Dave turned up the excitement by allowing Julia to paint too. Fun times!! It was a wonderful weekend just like the one before it! Now we are on to enduring and enjoying our busy, exciting, spirit-filled week!! Blessings to you all!! -Amber