San Jacinto Mounument

Dad had some boy scout business that brought him to Texas. We were so glad that he and mom were able to give us a few days to play around Houston with them. They got to be part of our everyday madness, and we pulled the kids out of school one day to do some site seeing. Cypress had just seen record rain fall and many areas of Houston were flooded and impassable. But we managed to get to and from the airport, around town, and out to see some history without any trouble. In fact, traffic was remarkably light which was incredible!

In all my mother's years of being a Texan, she had never been out to see the San Jacinto monument. I had not heard of it myself. The monument is a stone obelisk, that towers higher than the Washington monument, topped with the star of Texas. It commemorates the Battle of San Jacinto (built on the grounds of the battle field) which was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution where in the Texas colonists gained independence from Mexico. It is a beautiful site with a nicely curated museum and theatre. The video presentation kept everyone entertained but Jeffery. In between my attempts to keep him from being too disruptive, I was happy to learn all about Sam Houston and why he is such a big deal around here.

Up at the top of the monument, we had a bird's eye view of the USS Texas which is permanently docked nearby. The grounds were swollen with water, muddy and flooded. The USS Texas was our next stop that afternoon. It is full of history as it saw action in both WWI and WWII. There are cabins throughout that are outfitted with items from those time periods to help show how life aboard had been.

We stopped for a late Mexican food lunch before heading home. The rain was just starting to fall again when we hit the road.

Brazos Bend State Park

Not even an our from our front door there is a lovely state park where one can go to walk with the crocodiles. We had had this place our list for a while and finally ventured out to experience it. We walked for around 15 minutes before we spotted any reptilian friends. But once we knew what to look for, we started seeing crocs everywhere. And then we made it to an area where we had to step over them to continue along the path... The kids were part thrilled part terrified. And once we started spotting the crocs near the pathway, we fastened our little mischief maker into his stroller for safe keeping. The park is swampy, lush, and beautiful. We completely enjoyed our steamy hike through this southern terrain.

Inside the Ranger's Station, the kids got to get as close as they wanted to some select wildlife. (Eden was NOT a fan.) Allowance money was spent at the gift shop which made for 4 happy kiddo faces on our quick ride back home.

Things that happened in May

Cori and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. When we designed our backyard, Cori made sure to incorporate some 20 gardenia bushes. They all happened to be blooming and Cori picked me a bowl full of my favorite flower. Our house smelled amazing.

Houston is a city for food lovers. We went out to an upscale farm to table restaurant downtown and then hit a store for some cowboy boots. It was a perfect celebration with everything else we had going on.

Eden was in preschool just 2 days a week. She and Jeffers had lots of long afternoons to play in their pajamas and make messes.

The first graders at the G's school held a special mother's day activity. Grant and I did a craft together and ate some treats. His class recited a really cute poem they wrote about mothers and then we all convened in the auditorium for some songs.

Swim meets started, which meant that we were living at the pool for about 6 weeks. Actually, it meant that Jeffery and Eden were living in the car because Grant was also playing soccer 30 minutes away on a team that practiced twice a week and had games during the same time as the swim meets. It was a busy month. But they didn't mind.

With Cori in the bishopric and me in YW, we were also at the church quite a lot. This little guy got used to naps, meals, and play time in his carseat. He's such a great little buddy!

The weather started warming up and we took our family activities up into the dark, cool media room whenever we could... Just Dance!

Cori built a perfect raised garden bed along the side of the yard that we filled. We also installed lattices along the side of the house to grow grapes and planted some fruit trees. It was a good first attempt at gardening in Texas.

This is the playground at The Shack. Once we experienced this place, it was hard to stay away. Hamburgers that have to be seen to be believed, shoelace onion rings, deep fried pecan pie... mmmm.

We experienced our first tornado weather. Lots of rain and wind, but no permanent damage. We had to get serious about the grading and the draining of our back yard when our pool filled up with yard runoff and took the green/brown hue of a forest pond. But, a few trenched drains and a team of new pool filters later, everything was better than new.

Jeffers truckin' in Cori's Luccheses.