Wanted: Dead or Alive

Boys will be boys.  So when I tell you that Isaac is into lizards, it should be no surprise.

Remember that dead lizard?  I do.

Annie the Anaconda

I don't know when it started.  He might have liked them before he liked dinosaurs.  He could have been born with a love of reptiles.  He is a boy after all.

Isaac recently got a chance to get up close and personal with some reptiles at our last HMNS visit.  The live animal exhibit, provided by the Ultimate Reptile Shop, allowed Isaac to pet a green anaconda and a tortoise.  He was pretty interested in the huge fuzzy spiders as well.  I was interested in the scorpion with five white babies on its back.  Bleck.

Much of Isaac's enthusiasm comes from reading books about lizards.  The current one we checked out from the library is called "Lizards: Weird and Wonderful" by Margery Facklam.  He's learned about all sorts of lizards.  Gila monsters and chuckwallas, skinks and anoles.  He has even given some of them dinosaur names.  There's the Triceratops chameleon and the Ankylosaurus lizard.

We are lucky to live where it's hot and humid and just chock full of wildlife...You're jealous, just say it.  This kind of weather makes for plenty of bugs, sure.  But that makes for plenty of lizards.  We often times catch the anoles drinking water off our sprouting plants and finding some shade near our front door.  Last night we found a gecko (Isaac's favorite lizard) in our house.  And here's where I'll fill you in our the crazy idea we've been scheming in our heads.  Having a pet lizard.  Thrilling, I know.  We still have to decide whether we'll buy one or try to catch one.  I'm for buying one because I'm sure I'm going to have to buy some "food" for it, so we might as well just pick one up from the store while we are there.  Plus, I don't want to be the fool outside in the heat trying to catch a tricky little lizard.  I'll keep you updated.

Things Isaac may want to be when he grows up:  paleontologist, herpetologist.  I'm okay with that list.

But let's stick with the live ones.  Way less creepy...I think.

Some Are Silver and the Others Gold

Friends are such a blessing.  I have been lucky enough to have lots of friends in my lifetime.  Some I keep in touch with still, while others have come and gone. But regardless of their amount of interaction in my

current life, I appreciate the ways they helped to shape who I have become.

This weekend we had the great fortune of spending an evening with one of Troy's good friends, Evan.  We realized that they have been friends for almost 10 years now.  Time spent with Evan is always enjoyable.  During the course of our conversation we talked about getting older and feeling like our friendships are more precious to us and how we feel the need to be better friends, so to speak.

I hope that my kids grow up to understand the importance of making good friends and understand the work that it takes to keep those friends.  Currently Orry is my only kid that is really old enough to "have friends".  He's had a friend before, but something about this is different.  He still doesn't get the concept 100%.  He seems to think that he can only have one at a time, for instance.  So today we sailed into uncharted waters.  We took Orry's "one friend" with us on our family outing to HMNS Sugar Land.

Ezy is a friend that Orry met at church.  They got to know each other on Wednesdays, when I drop the kids of at the church while I enjoy some crafting and adult conversation in the form of a women's circle that makes crafts for a yearly church bazaar.  This was the first time that we've taken another child along with us for a fun day.

They had a great time.  Of course we knew they would since it was a free dinosaur event...  They enjoyed joking with each other in the car and joking with each other during lunch.  They searched for fossils together and watched a show in the planetarium.  They found fossilized sharks teeth and got some cool dinosaur tattoos.  And on the way home they joked some more and wondered about the next time they could play together.

I really had the feeling of things coming full circle.  Twenty-three years ago, I'm sure that my mom was listening to Laura and me have similar silly chats in the back of the van.  And I wondered if this friendship they are forming will last a lifetime, as Laura and mine has.  Of course there is no way of telling what the future holds for our families.  In the meantime, though, I hope that I can encourage Orry to be the best friend that he can be.  I hope I can teach him the importance of listening, sharing, and caring.  I hope that I can impress upon him the fact that friends are worth all the work that it takes to have a good relationship.

I am baffled by how complex things become the further we travel down this road that is parenthood.  These complexities also offer a certain richness to the experience, though.  They offer a chance to evaluate the things we find to be important in life.  We also get a glimpse into how lives and personalities develop slowly over time through many experiences and influences.  It is an exciting journey so far and I can't wait to see where this road takes me.

And for your enjoyment, a little video that pretty much sums up why Orry and Ezy make such good friends.

Entertaining Annie

Tonight and tomorrow morning, it's just us girls.  Troy has taken the boys on a camping trip.  I think his exact reason for it being a boys only trip had something to do with his boys learning not to be scared of bugs and nature and stuff.  I'm sure we'll all hear about it tomorrow.

So for 20 hours it's just Annie and me.  Sweet bliss.

Tangled

What I've come to realize is that I don't know what to do with just Annie!  We danced and we rolled around on the floor.  We picked up some toys and had some dinner.  She got a bath and some clean pajamas.  And then I was really at a loss about what to do with her for the next hour and a half before her bedtime. 

You see, the boys are the ones that entertain her, for the most part.  She is one of the gang.  Wherever they go, she goes.  Whatever trouble the boys get caught doing, her hands are usually just as red.    Three peas in a pod.  And it's easy that way.

After Annie went to bed, I did the cleaning.  I worked on my sewing and crafting.  I got my fix of late night TV.  And tomorrow I will be ready to take on the challenge of what to do with my littlest little.

Annie without the curls

Rain or Shine

Over the past few months, our days have been nothing but sunshine.  The heat has kept us indoors.  But we don't mind one bit.

We still get our outdoors time.  It just happens in the evenings now.  And we've pretty much put trips to the zoo on hold until the fall.  

Yesterday we decided to venture out into the city to find a couple of places that we were excited to check out.  One of them was the Texas Art Asylum, a shop that sells used art supplies at big discounts.  The other was Canino Produce, a Mexican farmers' market.  So we headed out, with a vague sense of directions and an almost full tank of gas.  

We struck out.  We found neither of the places!  I blame it on the lack of directions, the lack of physical addresses, and leaving our phone at home.  Defeated, we started to head home.  Then it started to rain.  Soon after we found ourselves driving by the Houston Zoo.  It wasn't the ideal time for a zoo trip, a Saturday in the rain, but we decided to go anyway.  Maybe it was so the trip wouldn't be such a waste of gas.  

We had a great time.  It was only raining slightly and the rain helped to keep the temperature down.  The glorious rain also helped to keep the crowds to a minimum.  

The kids seemed to like it.

The birds didn't mind either.

And the carousel ride offered some shelter from the drizzle.

And just to switch it up, we spent the evening indoors.  Another free dinosaur night at HMNS!  We saw the new Mosasaur fossil that will inhabit the new Paleontology hall.  We saw our favorite paleontologist, Dr. Bakker.  We saw the one of the newest dinosaur discoveries, the Dracorex Hogwartsia (can you guess what the name means?) skull.  

Beckers! Get with the program...

And since there was a DJ at the museum, we danced.

We drove home to find our flowerbeds watered and our gas tank empty.  It was a great day thanks to the rain.  

Snippets Part I

Here are some video snippets from the past couple of months.  

Here is Troy pinning the arms on the T-Rex.  Notice the placement and my sister's astonished look.

Here are the boys doing some yoga on the Wii.  Yes, my children hardly wear clothes around the house.

Here's a delightful gem that Isaac managed to catch while playing with the camera.  Orry always was so good with his "serious" face.  

Me vs Us

I love spending time with my family.  And by that I don't mean grocery shopping together, going to doctors appointments together, or just hanging out at home.  I mean getting out of our ordinary setting and doing things that we don't normally get to do together.  Today we did our routine things, church and errands.  We also took advantage of free admission to the HMNS Butterfly Center (did I mention that we like free things?)

My favorite: Rice Paper butterfly

The kids and I have visited the Butterfly Center a handful of times over the year.  Troy, on the other hand, hasn't been since our first trip there.  So he was delighted to get to explore and learn some and I was delighted to have an extra set of hands in a place that doesn't allow strollers.

I love the weekends.  I love the time we take to have adventures together as a family.  But I also love me.

Baby Boudreaux bump!!

I think it's important to love yourself.  And I think it's important to take the time to treat yourself right.  So between all the family business, I took the time to treat myself, and a best friend, to a pedicure.

Now I feel that I should preface all this by saying that I love being a mom.  I love what my kids have done for me.  I love my husband and my married life.  I love how much I have grown as a person over the past five, almost 6, years.  Overall, my life is great and I'm quite blessed.

Now, I'll continue by letting you know that being a parent can be downright hard sometimes.  Making the best decisions for them with your limited knowledge of the world.  Dealing with the small everyday stresses that can pile up and weigh down on you like a monstrous burden.  Needing an extra hand or lap at the most trying times of your day.  And being married isn't always a walk in the park.  There are arguments based on differences of opinion and arguments that stem from hungry bellies.  Sharing all of your extra free time with someone else can really start to not feel like free time after a while.

My tired dogs

But no one said that it would be easy.  No one said that we wouldn't struggle to make it through the day, much less the next five decades (if we are so lucky). But no one said that you couldn't have a time out every once in a while.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy getting away, even if it's only for a few hours.  I forgot how much clarity I get when I take some time off.  I really encourage you parents of young ones to treat yourselves right.  Love yourself.  Take time to relax by yourself.  Take time to do something that you love to do, but don't have the time to do everyday.  Get to know yourself away from your kids.  I bet that you will love who you are and your kids will reap the benefit of a more balanced and relaxed you.

So tell me, what is your favorite thing to do to just get away and relax?

Just My Imagination

The highlight of our day was the evening we spent in Brazos Bend State Park.  In typical Becker fashion, we decided to venture across (and out of) town to take advantage of a free observatory night at the George Observatory.  The observatory is part of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and is located inside the state park.  So while entry into the observatory was free, getting into the state park still had a minimal cost.  And again, in typical Becker fashion we decided to make the most of this "minimal cost" and get a pass to all the state parks in Texas.  This should make for plenty of things to blog about...

It is a nice state park, although I didn't quite feel comfortable the whole time I was there.  Allow me to explain.

Upon reading the literature that is provided for you at the entrance station, you realize that there is quite the alligator population in the park.  On the list of don'ts, twice it is mentioned that you should not feed the wildlife.  Other notable lines tell you things like, "If you come across an alligator laying in the middle of a hiking path, back away slowly" and "Don't ever think that an alligator is a slow animal" and, my favorite, "If an alligator wants the fish that you just caught, let him have it".  So you can see why I wasn't really digging the whole vibe the place puts out.  I could just imagine a big gator making off with one of my little ones or my leg, for that matter.  Choot 'em!  Maybe you still aren't following me.  Here, have a look for yourself.

Walking out on the fishing pier was one thing.  Hiking was another.  Walking down all the winding paths, I couldn't help but imagine an alligator laying across the path.  And if I wasn't dreaming up alligators, then I was hearing cicadas and thinking of rattlesnakes lying across the path.

Poor Troy had to put up with me.  I was worse than the kids.

But all this wasn't the reason for our trip.  We were there to see the stars.  And we were hoping to get a good look at Saturn, the only planet visible in the night sky for the rest of the summer.  So we braved the mosquitoes, armed to the teeth with Skeeter Screen and Badger Balm.  Turns out we got several good views of Saturn and some of its moons.  We also got up close and personal with our own moon.  We didn't stay long enough to see any stars.  During the summer it takes too long to get dark and our kids (or was it just me?) started to get cranky while waiting.  And I would say that we didn't get any bug bites, but silly me forgot to re-apply spray on my feet.  But now that I'm looking for the three bites I thought I had, they don't itch and I can't find them...

I'm glad I didn't let my imagination get the best of me.  It turned out to be a pretty good time.  Although, while walking back to the car, alone and in the dark, the image of a bobcat mauling me crept into my mind...

Now Lie In It

Chores.  I know I don't like them all that much.  So I decided that it's about time that Orry started to help out around the house.

We've started small.  Very small, in fact.  But you've got to start somewhere, right?  So Orry has started to make his bed everyday. 

I feel pretty proud of myself for getting him into this habit early.  And by early, I mean before he is 28 years old (that's about the age when I started to make my bed regularly).  Now I love to make my bed.  Not only does it look nice all the time, but now the kids don't get my sheets dirty when they sneak into my room and jump on my bed.  

Today I decided to photograph him while he made his bed.  He told me all about the process of making the bed.

First you clear it off.  

How they sleep with books in the bed, I will never know.

Then you straighten your pillows and pull up the sheet.

The previous step is easier to do if your little brother isn't jumping on the bed.

Silly Gonzo.

Then you pull the top cover to make it smooth.

How did he become such a perfectionist?

After it's all smooth you can throw all your stuff back on the bed.

All joking aside, I've come to love an orderly and clean home.  With three kids, it's not so easy most of the time.  But now I've got Orry on my side and everyone knows that you can accomplish more as a team.  

P.S.  It also helps to add the incentive of earning an allowance.  Not necessary, but helpful.

And since we are talking about Orry, I should let you know that Mistake #4 has been corrected!  

The Evolution of Our Trip

Our trip began as a desire to see the bats in Austin.  Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in the US and every night between March and October (about) some 1.5 million bats fly out from under the Congress Ave. Bridge.  They emerge just after sundown and go out in search of food, consuming some 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of bugs per night.  The narrow but deep openings in the bridge have created the perfect home for these bats, so people congregate on the bridge or under, to catch a glimpse of what can appear to be black smoke flowing along the river.  Here is a glimpse, or two, that we caught.

During the planning of our trip we picked up a few family members.  Vacation isn't complete without seeing some family that we don't get to see often enough.  

We saw the Bourg parents.

We saw the Bourg cousins (Aunt and Uncle too!)

We saw the Theobald cousins. (How did I manage to not get more photos?!)

Much of the family time was spent by the pool.  That was a-okay by me since Austin was HOT.

And in our typical Becker fashion, much of the trip was planned on the fly.  We managed to squeeze in a fair amount of things. 

Like the Texas State Capitol.

And the Austin Children's Museum.

The SFC Farmers' Market-Downtown.

The 23rd Street Artists' Market.  (Not much to see because many vendors don't come out in the heat.)

 And of course there were various trips to local eateries and stores.  And we can't forget our adventure to the original Whole Foods Market (which, by the way, is too big and too busy for any actual shopping to get done).

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at our state's capital.  I've made a mid-year resolution to celebrate the next 4th of July at our nation's capital.  We'll just have to see how that one evolves.