Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Homework

Here are some pictures of kids and their homework -- finished or in process. In the first picture, Austen is sitting in front of his project on the city of Huntsville, TX, and all three kids are in the last picture. They DO like to have their pictures taken!

In the second picture, we see Kira writing out her spelling words, practicing for next week's spelling quiz!



By the way, all that long hair the boys are sporting is now gone. Almost everyone had haircuts today!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

School holiday at the mall

Here are some views of the outdoors part of The Woodlands Mall where the kids and I went yesterday. In the center of the first picture is PF Chang's where we had lunch. Just left of Chang's is The Cheesecake Factory, and to the right is Barnes & Noble. There are many other stores, office buildings, and waterways around the area. The kids are standing near a fountain across from the mall's main entrance. It's a great place to wander around and spend a holiday.


Fun pictures of two kids on the carousel yesterday: Parker in green, Kira in blue.


Friday, January 13, 2006

Lots of construction around here

Here are some houses being built down the street from me, toward the west. The first one is about three doors away. It's huge, as you can see. I think it is a five-bedroom house with a three-car garage!

The second photo shows another five-bedroom house, being built farther down the street. It has an interesting front porch on it, conducive to sitting out on nice evenings. Notice all the trees to the left of this house. They'll be gone soon, once those lots are sold and cleared for building.

The third one is of what's left of the forest behind my house (and across the street back there). Some of the houses being built in that area are right on the Willow Creek Golf Course. Yesterday morning, crews began clearing a lot among these particular trees -- just left of the center of the photo. I just wish they'd at least leave the tallest trees on the lots, as well as enough trees between the new houses and the street. Too bad this developer doesn't take a clue from the regulations in The Woodlands about how wide a swath of trees to leave intact. The properties would look infinitely better.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Construction conquers forests

These first two are taken from the western end of Holden Mills Drive, looking north. Note the clearings and the yet-to-be-cleared. The houses are mostly huge -- 4-5 bedrooms each, plus game rooms, and lots of living space and big yards, front and back. Perfect for families.

The third picture is of a house in the process (lots of insulation wrapping, but no brickwork yet) of being built on the corner at the far western end of Holden Mills. I just wish the developers would leave more of the original trees standing. The houses would be so much more attractive, and the property values would be higher, I'd think.

Sigh!!



Construction, continued

This is looking east from the section that's now being cleared and built up -- toward the section where I live. In this picture along the left side of the street, there are four "available" signs and one "sold" sign on un-built-on sites, plus one house being built on the corner. On the right side of the street are other un-built-on sites, mostly "available," plus one house being built and several cleared lots.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Trampoline and exercise!

Here are some good shots of the Linehan kids getting lots of exercise (and bumps and bruises!) on their trampoline. I am especially fond of that huge net around it!