Earth Science Lessons

It has been a tough month for nature around here. I'm afraid all of our recent outdoor earth science lessons have had tragic endings.

It all started earlier in the month, when we went to our little pond to check on our fish, which have lived here long before us. Wilbur and Charlotte were gone! We don't know what ate them, but he sure wasn't very nice.

A few weeks after that, we discovered one golf-ball sized green tomato growing on our lone tomato plant. We were very proud of ourselves for growing something. That we could eat! A few days later, we went to check on its progress and to our surprise it was gone. Ace cried a few crocodile tears and said, "But I thought it was for us!"

Then, we were very excited to discover a mama bird in a nest in our front yard. Our older neighborhood friends ran home to grab their handy "Birds of Central Texas" guide. We compared and compared but our bird didn't look like any of the birds in the trusty guide. So I told them, in all my infinite wisdom, that she was a dove. Whew! Good thing it was a bird that I know. A few days after that, the neighbor boys nearly beat down our door (at 8am on a Saturday - we were all still in our jammies) to tell us that the eggs had hatched and we had baby birds! We quickly dressed and went outside to check them out. Steve got out the ladder and all the kids took turns peering at the little birds and their mama. It was all very exciting.

We took pictures.

And then, each kid took some pictures.

And then, they started snapping pictures of us from above.


Then, we took the camera away.

The next morning, the same neighbors beat down our door again, this time, to tell us that mama and the babies were GONE. A coyote had eaten them, according to the neighbors. Oh, the horror. We'd been able to work through our grief over the fish and then the tomato, but not our baby birds too! At least we hadn't given them names yet...

So, to all the birds and tomatoes and fish, we bid you a fond farewell. Perhaps next Spring, we'll have more time with your friends.

A Day Outside the City Limits

We love living in the suburbs and all of the conveniences that go along with it, but sometimes wild boys need to get out of town and run around in wide open spaces. So, today we did just that.

We began our day with a play date with our new friends at their home. They live outside of town, on 5 1/2 acres. It was practically a vacation for us! The buddies ran around outside with another set of 4 year old twin boys and got dirty from head to toe. We explored their pond, played with their dogs, rode ATV's and bikes, and played on their playscape.

After lunch and several hours of fun, we moved on and drove another 60 or so miles to Brenham, Texas to tour the Blue Bell Creamery. Our first trip to the little creamery was nearly 2 years ago and today's trip was a whole new experience with my older, wiser, and calmer boys. They did such a great job on the tour and really enjoyed seeing how their favorite treat is made. Their contained excitement about all things ice cream was a big hit amongst our fellow tourists. Then, at the completion of the tour, we each chose a free serving of Blue Bell homemade ice cream and licked the bowls clean.

Butterflies!

Today we met our playgroup friends for a field trip to Wild Connections, a cool butterfly farm in Southwest Austin. It is a place that has been on our list for years and the buddies are finally the right age to enjoy it. The 56 acre, family - owned farm is a place where kids can run free and explore nature.

We began our outing by exploring a few fish ponds. Ace was miffed that he couldn't go fishing and Ben got in trouble with his mean mama for throwing rocks in the pond. This was not the lake!

Once most of our little friends and their grown-ups arrived, we headed to the butterfly house to explore. The 2000 square foot greenhouse housed hundreds of butterflies, as well as some fish and turtles. Our short people were pleased to discover that the mama turtle had not one baby but two - twins! One of the owners let our children hold sticks with caterpillars and fruit with butterflies perched atop. Ben said the butterfly house was "magical" and I have to agree.



After our picnic lunch, we explored the pink and yellow hiking trails. The kids got a kick out of searching for "clues" (rocks and tree branches painted yellow or pink). Our diligent little friend, Caroline, took note of each clue in her trusty notebook along the way. After our hike, we explored the butterfly house one last time and then hit the road with tired, happy kids.

More pictures here!

More T-Ball Video

We are in the midst of our third season of t-ball. I took some video and thought it would be interesting to compare with their very first at-bats, almost a full year ago. The biggest change is the buddies have learned to run to first base (and stop) after a hit. Next season, we'll move up to the 4-year old league (which I hear is not much different from the 3-year old league).

Four Year Stats

4 years!! How can it be? Nevertheless, here are our stats:

Ace:
height: 43" (95th percentile)
weight: 42 pounds (95th percentile)

Ben:
height: 41" (75th percentile)
weight: 35 pounds (50th percentile)

Both are following their normal growth curves and are happy, healthy boys. Ace earned a visit to the optometrist when his left eye scored a 20/40 during his eye exam. Ben's eyes checked out fine and he made the nurse laugh during his eye exam. When she asked him to read the 20/10 line, he said, "No. I can't read that one because it is too small."

And... 4 year olds do NOT like vaccinations. Ben was so mad about it that he refused to pick a sticker out of the sticker bin. He also refused to eat his McGriddle from McDonald's. He eventually came around, and luckily, his twin brother was nice enough to share his stickers.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

The buddies and I joined our friends at the Rowdy Girls' house for a Cinco de Mayo play date this morning. What fun! We dined on enchiladas, tamales, and "Rowdy Girl Root Beer" brewed up by their brewmaster daddy.

The buddies spent some time on their play scape and in their sand pit and just generally caused a ruckus. Then, the kids took turns whacking the pinata and stuffed as much candy as they could into their little pockets.


Viva la Mexico!