Let's Play

Hurricane Ike veered away from us but he has to be the reason we've been having such chilly weather.  And by chilly I mean, "Man, I'm cold" upper 50's waking up in the morning.  Sort of unusual.  But it also means glorious "Man, I'm cold" weather during the day and after dinner in the upper 70's, low 80's.  There's a reason we live in Texas.  The girls will play outside for hours when it's nice outside.  Sometimes I hate to be the one to say, "It's time to go in.  We have school tomorrow."

More playing around at Stacy's.

Country Life

This post will probably interest no one except the other people that live in our neighborhood.  One of the things about living in the "country" is that you get the native creatures that come with it:  snakes, bugs, big bugs, scorpions, centipedes, and the other usual nuisances such as raccoons and armadillos.  Armadillos.  Never seen one in person except dead on the road.  Until tonight.  Armadillos are nuisances mostly because they dig up your landscaping looking for food.  Landscaping that you paid lots of money for and that the homeowners association makes you keep up with.  And boy can they dig.  And one armadillo can do lots of digging.  We have been lucky in that our armadillo has really only done minor work to our landscaping.  But Greg for some reason decided he wanted to try and catch it.  So he set out our trap, humane trap, baited it and waited.  One night, nothing.  Next night, nothing.  Well, this evening, even before dark, HE SAW IT.  In a process that involved a bucket, a snake catcher (What?  You don't have one?), and the DOG, they basically hunted the poor thing down.  And caught it.

Nine banded, Natalya counted.

He really is kinda cute.  And, yes, he is climbing the cage.

"Let me out.  Please."

This one just cracks me up.  The poor thing looks like it was imprisioned.  Rockey was a basket case and hunted in true Jack Russell fashion.  Greg did release the poor guy down by the river so if he ends up at your house, Angelia or Jen or Amy, sorry.  But we are now renting Rockey for armadillo services.  Email me for the price list.  OH, and I did forget to post our raccoon story so that will come tomorrow.  Aw, country life.

Singing in the Rain

Can you see it?  Our house in the rain drop. 

 

Last year at this time we had had enough rain.  This year, not enough.  We got about 3 hours of much needed rain today.  And we couldn't stay in and let it happen.  We went out to play in it. 

The Beginning...

...Of Summer.  The beginning of, "Where are we going today?"  The girls (mostly Vienne) always have to be doing something.  And something does not include playing at home.  Apparently that doesn't count.  We are staying home today.  This morning we played outside.  Amazingly it was nice and breezy so we explored the backyard, the girls swung, and did cartwheels.   

As we walked through the backyard, I couldn't help but think of who had been there before us.  We have a new house but the land belonged to others before.  What had they done with it before we got there?  Had any one even walked on this spot before?  My girls like to explore.  We tell stories as we walk.  It will be a nice Summer. 

 

This second one will be My Best Shot.  Cartwheeling in boots. 

We had a great weekend.  On Friday, Natalya got her ears pierced and then we swam.  On Saturday, we took the girls to the children's theater to see a version of Beauty and the Beast.  We came home and swam.  Yesterday, we swam again.  It's South Texas.  We'll be swimming a lot this summer.   Happy Monday!

Fiesta!

It's Fiesta time here in San Antonio.  So yesterday we took the girls downtown for our annual Fiesta fun.  We have been going to the Southwest School of Art and Craft Fiesta Arts Fair for several years now.   They have a wonderful children's section in the back with lots of crafts.  It's been a great way for us to enjoy Fiesta with the HipChicks. 

 

 

Senorita V. 

 

All the more festive if we dress the part. 

Vienne's lunch of choice- a fruit cup. 

Natalya took every craft very seriously.  Vienne finished her craft within about 10 minutes while Natalya took at least 20 minutes.  This is where they made glass mosaic suncatchers.  They also did metal embossing, clay scupting, glass print making.  Wow, all sounds kinda complex, doesn't it?  You have all this week to get downtown and enjoy the fun. 

For more festivites, visit Tracy's Best Shot Monday. 

 Just a reminder that tomorrow is Earth Day.  What will you do to celebrate?  Maybe you'll go for a walk and pick up trash.  Or maybe you'll plant a flower and talk about conserving natural resources like water.  Or maybe you'll go out and buy a reusable water bottle.  Or maybe you'll go out and play and enjoy our beautiful Earth.  Help our children do our part.