Sierra finally got to try out the swings at our neighborhood park and had a lot of fun!
So, we decided it was time we hung her very own swing in our backyard. Sierra was excited, of course, and was a big help.
By the way- that awful patio is next on the list of backyard improvements.
With her help, we got the swing hung from the tree and she was ready to go! (Please ignore that obnoxious lady who keeps making funny sounds behind the camera. Geeez- she never shuts up!)
YouTube linky for the non-flashers
The squirrels like the swing too:
YouTube link
Now, if we could just control the mosquitoes in our yard, we'd be set! Anyone know where I can buy 5 gallon buckets of citronella?
Friday night, we headed down to Brazos Bend State Park for an evening hike around the lake. Amazingly, it was really nice- not as buggy and humid as we had expected. (Actually, the marshy lake had far fewer mosquitoes than our backyard.)
Sierra enjoyed the hike- she even stayed awake the whole time! Yay! I swear she was trying to say "alligator"- at least that how I interpreted "ahhhhgaga".
As we walked, we noticed crawfish claws along the path and wondered who had been snacking. Then we figured it out:
This yellow-crested night heron was having his supper. And we're inviting him to Easter next year, because this guy is hard-core. We actually watched several herons and egrets do the same thing. They snatch one out of the water, fly to the trail, and rip its little pinchers off. Then they fly back to the edge of the water, toss the critter around a couple times, and then- gulp!- swallow the crawfish whole! Ouch! It made my stomach flip-flop a couple times thinking about trying to digest that shell. After a little research, I found that these birds have a special stomach acid to aid in the digestion of shells, since crustaceans are a large part of their diets. Wild!
After our Animal Planet adventures that night, we decided a trip to the Natural Science Museum was in order. The next day, Sierra got to enjoy her first trip to the museum!! Ok, so Mama-Nerd was waaay more excited than Sierra. This was the same museum I enjoyed as a kid, and it was a lot of fun to drag her around explaining everything like she understood it all. Haha! Someday it will be fun for her too- or maybe she'll just be rolling her eyes at me. In fact, as my child, that's the more likely scenario. Anyways, here are Sierra and Papa ready for the museum!
We went through the Cockrell Butterfly Center first, which was really cool! As soon as we walked in (and before I had my camera out), butterflies were landing on us. Of course, as soon as I had the camera ready, they had lost interest in us and never did it again. Punks. We were really impressed at the number of butterflies! We'll have to keep going back- what little girl wouldn't love a room full of butterflies?? Sorry- these are crappy iPhone photos. No doubt Travis will be headed back with his "real" camera soon.
Travis and Sierra learned all about caterpillars (and cockroaches- yuck) in the Hall of Entomology.
Next up- Sierra's first trip to the pool and her first baseball game! Yay!!
No comments:
Post a Comment