Brazos Bend Storm

We went hiking at Brazos Bend yesterday. It was quite cloudy, so the lighting for pictures was terrible. By the time we finished our hike, it was pouring rain and there was a high tornado warning. The rangers told us to stay close to the buildings and off the trails. It got so dark and rainy around 1:00 that we could hardly see enough to eat our lunch. It was quite a beautiful day though, and we managed to see a few things before the rain.

The girls on the trail.

Sydnie bird watching.

Great Blue Heron
We saw about 50 alligators around the park in the water.

Happy Easter

It took Maddie awhile to find her Easter basket, but she finally did.
Sydnie was quite excited about the whole thing.

Showing off their favorite eggs.

Mark and Maddie ran races on Saturday. Mark got first place in his age division in the 5k. All the kids in the 1k get a medal.

Sheldon Lake

We headed out with our canoe since Mark has Good Friday off. There are small islands of trees all over this lake that wading birds make their nests in. In the spring it is the place to go to see thousands of birds up close.

Maddie and Sydnie fishing in the canoe (no, we didn't catch anything).

Black-crowned Night-Heron
Purple Gallinule

Little Blue Heron
Roseate Spoonbill

This alligator was one of the biggest ones we have every seen, probably about 10 ft. He was swimming about 40-50 ft in front of us. Spring is also the best time to see big alligators because the males are all swimming up out of the water trying to show off their size to the females. Sorry the video is shaky. I was in a canoe with 2 squirmy s.

Misc.

Mark took the girls to Zoobilee yesterday (I got to go to enrichment). They got little passports and had to get stamps in different areas for a prize and got to have zoo keeper chats about lots of animals.
This is a red panda, new to the zoo.

The iris I planted last fall are finally blooming.

We had an Easter egg hunt for play group.