Kira's return from camp

Kira went to Creek's End Kids Camp on the 24th and returned today. She had a terrific time, sling and all! Abbi went with us to pick Kira up today; Abbi had just gotten back from camp yesterday!



Fun little girls!

Upcoming Tea Party!

I was driving home from taking Kira to the church (where the buses or vans would leave for 3 days of camp!) and I noticed this sign in a yard on a not-well-traveled street.


Too bad there aren't similar signs on major streets. I'm sure it'll be a well attended event, though, just as the one on tax day was (April 15). Or maybe there are lots of other signs, but I just haven't driven on those particular roads and highways!!

Glorious!

When I returned home from a quick trip to California, this is the scene that greeted me in my back yard!





Each spring in this part of the garden, just outside the back door, first are the azaleas, then the amaryllis, and finally the agapanthus. I love this spot!!

Very pretty lizard

Austen took these pix yesterday through my kitchen window.

On the left side of the left branch of that crape myrtle tree, you can see a little bulge - that's my resident lizard (at least, the one I know about!). Click on the photo to "biggify"!


In this second photo, the little guy straightened up and you can see his nice, full, red throat ballooning! There must be a lady lizard out there he's trying to impress!

Enjoy!!

Springtime front yard!

Views of my front yard.




These two gardenia plants weren't doing well in Anne's yard, so we moved them last summer. They clearly like it in my front yard!

My back yard continues to explode in color; agapanthus is sending up its flower stalks and should bloom any ol' time!

Linehan yard photos!

Here are some photos of the springtime gorgeousness taking place in Anne's front yard right now.

Vitex tree close-up:

Vitex tree:

Across the front of her house, including the other vitex tree on the far end:

More and more!!

The amaryllis sent up a second stalk of flowers and they are in full bloom right now. Magnificent!

The agapanthus plants are right next to the amaryllis and will soon be sending up marvelous purple flowers. Right now, though, there's this very tiny (1" long), perfectly shaded, green frog that's apparently adopted the agapanthus leaves for his home. Amazingly perfect little creature. See it? (Click on the photo below to "biggify" it!)

I love this time of year in my back yard!

The lilies are all blooming, too, and will probably continue for quite a while, given the number of unopened buds on each plant.

In Anne's yard

Under the crape myrtle tree just outside Anne's kitchen window is where her amaryllis is planted -- and comes up and blooms beautifully every year. Just gorgeous!

More amaryllis!

Here are a couple of shots of the amaryllis blooms, taken this afternoon. One more bloom has opened; one more to go!

My annual awe!

Again, my yard is exploding in color. And again, I'm just amazed!!

The amaryllis that I forget about when it's not blooming! It's just beautiful.


The amaryllis is surrounded by azaleas.


One of the four butterfly iris plants in my yards.


My one, lone gerbera daisy!

High school concert

Last night was the high school bands' pre-UIL concert. There are three bands there, each with 50-65 members (or maybe more), and -- boy howdy! -- are they good. Again, the photos were taken without the flash, so they may be a bit fuzzy, but they're mostly to demonstrate the size of these bands.

This is the Concert Band:


This is the Symphonic Band:


And this is the Wind Ensemble, in which Austen is one of the clarinetists; they were playing Halvorsen's "Entry March of the Boyars":

Band concert

Last night, the three 7-8th grade bands at Parker's school participated in the pre-UIL concert performances at a nearby high school. These photos were taken without the flash so they're a little fuzzy, but I wanted them to show the SIZE of these middle school bands. No wonder the high school bands are so good!!

Here is Parker's band in the sight-reading part of the competition. Amazing!

Big cat photos

I don't know what happened with the camera the other day, and I don't know if I did this or if Austen did. But ... oh, well ... these are really good pictures. You just have to click on it to "biggify" and be able to see the individual frames well. The detail is nice.

Weekend outing

Today, Anne and Kira decided we should have an outing - do something different, rather than just sitting around our houses and doing chores all weekend. What a splendid idea! So we got into Anne's car and drove to the Downtown Aquarium in Houston. It's in such a pretty location, right near the theater district. We went through the aquarium, as we've done 3 or 4 times before - yet there always seems to be something new and different each time. Then we rode various rides, including the big ferris wheel, went back into the building and had a late lunch, and rode more rides after our lunch, too!

Here is a photo of the three kids and me, in front of the wall fountain that's halfway up the stairs to the restaurant. Look how tall everyone (except me) is getting!


Here are the four of us in June, 2004, in the exact same place. It's amazing how much kids grow, huh?


Here's Kira in the restaurant, standing in front of the giant aquarium in the center of the dining room.


Here are some shots of everyone as we sat near the snack bars before hitting the rides.




We saw two of the four white tigers at this facility. One was very regal. There are two videos of the tigers at the end of this post. It was almost feeding time, and it was clear that the one on the right knew what time it was! The second video also shows them scuffling and playing! Good job with the camera, Austen!


We took several photos of the city buildings from high up in the ferris wheel. The red building in the foreground is the Wortham Center. Houston Ballet will be performing Swan Lake there soon.


The very tall building - the tallest in the city - is the JP Morgan Chase building, which lost an incredible number of windows during Hurricane Ike. (People reported that it was "raining glass.")


More city buildings. The smallest building toward the right is City Hall.


And here's a view of the aquarium itself - from the top of the ferris wheel!


We rode the train around the whole building and grounds, including through the Shark Tunnel. Thanks to Kira for this photo!


Kira and Parker rode on the Lighthouse Dive - twice!




Here are more views of the buildings around the aquarium - this time from the snack bar courtyard.