Sheldon Lake

We headed out with our canoe since Mark has Good Friday off. There are small islands of trees all over this lake that wading birds make their nests in. In the spring it is the place to go to see thousands of birds up close.

Maddie and Sydnie fishing in the canoe (no, we didn't catch anything).

Black-crowned Night-Heron
Purple Gallinule

Little Blue Heron
Roseate Spoonbill

This alligator was one of the biggest ones we have every seen, probably about 10 ft. He was swimming about 40-50 ft in front of us. Spring is also the best time to see big alligators because the males are all swimming up out of the water trying to show off their size to the females. Sorry the video is shaky. I was in a canoe with 2 squirmy s.

Misc.

Mark took the girls to Zoobilee yesterday (I got to go to enrichment). They got little passports and had to get stamps in different areas for a prize and got to have zoo keeper chats about lots of animals.
This is a red panda, new to the zoo.

The iris I planted last fall are finally blooming.

We had an Easter egg hunt for play group.

Happy Spring

Spring time here means it's time for Texas bluebonnets. Large fields of these grow all over and everybody drives around to look at them. I wish we could post how good they smell, but you'll have to come visit us in the spring to get that. Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Camping at Huntsville State Park

When Mark moved the canoe to put it in the car for our camping trip, he found another rabbit nest. This one was filled with water and had two dead rabbits and two barely alive rabbits. Needless to say we are now trying to nurse two baby rabbits back to health. We'll see how it goes because baby rabbits are difficult to keep alive if they haven't been weaned yet.
Sydnie enjoying her breakfast. If you can't tell from the pictures, it was rainy and cool.

Despite the cool weather, it was beautiful.

The girls love canoeing. Maddie is actually getting really good at using her little paddle (which is good since I did no paddling and just got to relax in the canoe).

Here are the bird pictures:
Pileated Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Great Blue Herons

This pileated woodpecker was fascinating to watch. His pecking echoed all over the campground:

Newest Family Member

This is the newest member of our family. It is a Greek tortoise, but we are not sure if it is a male or a female. Its name is lightening. It is about 5-6 inches long and very entertaining. It is quite fast for a turtle.

Maddie roasting marshmallows on Saturday. We had a hot dog roast for dinner.

We had a primary talent show on Friday. Maddie memorized the poem "Footprints in the Sand." She was quite nervious when she said it so I had to help her a bit.

Planting Season

This is our front flower bed. I hope everyone in the cold enjoys the colors. ;)
Maddie posing with the new flowers.

These are my little tomato and pepper plants. Mark decided to experiment with peppers this year so we have six different types of hot peppers planted plus my normal green peppers.

We got my new bench all stained and I love it!

Sydnie loves helping with the yard work.