Visitors

This weekend Nana and Wayne came to visit from Missouri. On Friday I was at work, so I don't have any photos myself, but I have it on good authority that Bluet went to the Zoo and pushed the button that makes the sound of a bob cat - or as Bluet said 'I push the bobcat button'. It makes a roar that used to startle her, but somehow she now enjoys that. Also, she saw this snake.

Then on Saturday we went in search of wildlife to the San Bernard Wildlife reserve. Some of you may remember we went there earlier this year and saw a real Bobcat, many alligators, a giant woodpecker of some kind and a cottonmouth snake. This time it was a bit hot, and aside from all the 'squitos (which bit me more than they bit Bluet), we managed only to see one Gator. 

Bluet, however, still found plenty of rocks

Spot the gator

Once we were home Bluet had lots of fun playing at home, and being a little bit silly

she also discovered a new game at the pool where she lies on the chair and is covered with a towel. Here she is a few days ago; on Saturday she tried to repeat the trick all by herself, and lay on the chair wrapped in a towel for many minutes. Maybe she was exhausted from all these activities

Wildlife

We've been spending a lot of weekends staying within the four walls of Houston, so this Sunday we took a drive into the countryside. It doesn't take long to escape the city sprawl and find yourself out in the wild. We have a book of hikes around Houston, so we found one and set off. On the way into the Wildlife Reserve, we saw a sign describing the Auto route for the park, allowing you to drive around and see the wild life from the comfort of your car. "Ha", we thought, "what kind of wimp would come to a wild life reserve and stay in the car? We will walk." So we stopped and got out of the car at the location for the start of the hike 1000 mosquito bites later, and a close encounter with an alligator, we were back in the car, swatting mosquitos and swearing never to leave the car again. We did the autoroute, and saw a snake (possibly a cottonmouth, see picture. It stopped on the road and hissed at the car), a woodpecker pecking a fence post, lots of alligators, lots of birds, and best of all, a bobcat. All from the comfort of the car On the way back we stopped at a State Park (NB I may edit this and put the names in - they both began with "B"). This was much more tranquil (we didn't see any of the alligators, or get bitten by any mosquitos, although we did have a narrow escape from a wild boar. This meant Bluet could get out and run around, which made her very happy. She particularly enjoyed picking the wild flowers, and, of course, playing with the gravel.