Lenten Gardens

Today, the kids made Lenten Gardens in observation of Lent:






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Texas Discovery Gardens

The kids and I visited the Texas Discovery Gardens and Butterfly House at the Fair Park yesterday afternoon. Afterwards we walked around the lake and played in the lagoon.



















The kids made some butterflies out of strips of paper.


This is an Atlas moth, the largest moth in the world.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Little Dancer

Kassidy has started taking ballet this year. 

There were no classes today because of Spring Break, but that didn't stop her from running around in her leotard.

Birthday Party(s)

Katharine and Lukas celebrated their much belated birthdays together this past Sunday at the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

I can't say if their Birthday Party package ended up being worth it (the time in the room was short, and our tour guide hostess had never worked the main floors of the museum), but it was definitely awesome walking through the museum afterwards with all of our friends.

The boys and the girls split off before the cake was served. 

You can already see 15-20 years from now; with the boys at the table holding their beers and the girls having fun at Happy Hour.

But will they all still be talking about Minecraft?

The cake was awesome.

And as reported earlier, the museum was even better.

Erik, the Big-Hearted Dad

I snapped this picture after reading the Dr. Seuss book "Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose", when I realized that our bed is not much different than Thidwick's antlers at times (with all of those uninvited guests).

Back to Germany

Oma arrived safely back in Germany on Monday, after a three week trip.

We had a lot of fun with her, and the kids learned some new games that didn't involve a power cord.

Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge

The second half of the family's Tyler adventure took them to the 

Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Along the perimeter were lots of the pines and trails that Tyler is famous for.

Hmm, boy or girl?

Inside the refuge, there were a lot of great cats to observe and learn about. 

The kids had a blast.

And there were some nice animals outside of the cages as well.

\

The Railroad Depot Museum

The kids took a trip to Tyler on Friday, and the first stop was a visit to a cool railroad museum.

The outside looks like it could have been a model on one of those train track sets.

The inside was filled with the real models, plus a strange contraption that required you to dial numbers in order to make a phone call.