Pioneer Day - Texas Style

What a great Saturday! We woke up, piled the kids in the stroller, and had a great run to the grocery store for pancake supplies. Then we ran home and had a fabulous pancake feast. We tried sausage pancakes (I highly recommend them), banana pancakes (inspired from the song) and blueberry pancakes (of course). The morning continued with our normal chores... but it was so nice to get the house clean and the lawn mowed. Around lunch we couldn't decide how to proceed... it was hot... really hot :). Should we go out? Put Connor down for a nap? Do something fun indoors? What to do... ??

Eventually we decided to put Connor down for his nap and plan a picnic for dinner at Brazos Bend State Park. We picked up some hot dogs and melon. Lucky for us, a storm cloud passed near the park just as we were arriving, which brings down the temp considerably. It goes from miserable to tolerable heat :). And it actually turned out to be a beautiful evening. We had our picnic and the kids ran around playing tag and chasing squirrels.

After dinner, we decided to do some walking - it was Pioneer Day after all :). So we "walked and walked" around the lake hoping to spy some alligators. Usually in the summer they are harder to find because of the heat... But not today!!! We were no more than 5 minutes into the walk when we came upon this guy... he was a bit too close for comfort - about 2 feet from the trail! You can see in the picture below how close he really is...

We picked up our kids (yes, we carried them), held our breath and walked along the opposite edge of the trail hoping the alligator would remain where he was. Thankfully he did. :)

So, the walking continued....

Abigail helping Dallin see the alligator hiding by the edge of the water. Can you see his eyes?

Connor was a trooper. He walked most of the way, but occasionally had a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

It was a beautiful evening....

After another 10 minutes of walking we came upon this fella.... again too close for comfort. You can't tell from the pictures but this alligator was about 2-3 feet longer than the first. We decided he was just too big to chance crossing... and it was about time to turn around anyway for the kids sake :). Thank goodness!

Looking for tadpoles in the lake

However, on the way back another alligator decided to sun himself! Way too close!! Every time we crossed in front of one of these large creatures, my heart was raising and I kept thinking in my head ... "nice alligator... nice alligator... please... stay where you are.... please!" It is one thing to put yourself at risk and an entirely different situation to be holding your child/children.

And this guy was looking RIGHT at you!

I just loved this... the tree.. the birds... I love nature!

Abby and Dallin with their treasures. Dallin's treasure (a feather was cut off... sorry Dallin)

Along the way back we decided to learn some primary pioneer songs and talk about the pioneers. The kids were good to participate :). We finally made it back to the picnic table after an eventful walk :). My heart was happy to be a little farther away from the water :). We gathered the kids and watched a short pioneer movie on John's computer and then told them about some of our family "pioneer" stories.

As we were driving home, I thought to myself... today really was a wonderful day! We had fun together, we worked together, and we even were able to share testimonies together. A memory we will all share forever.