Atlanta

We just returned from our family trip to Atlanta and Missouri. We went because Emily had a meeting in Altanta, so thought it would be nice to have a brief family holiday too.

Here, Ilona takes some pictures of flowers, a brief walk from where we stayed in Atlanta

There were two parks nearby - this is the fire engine at Piedmont Park, which was more similar to Central Park (NYC) than Central Park Atlanta is to Central Park NYC.

Bluet and Ilona loved these swings that are all over Atlanta (or at least in the parks, and as you can see below, at the house we stayed in.

Eating Ice cream at the end of a long day

Ilona the rabbit

This is Central Park

Then we drove to Missouri........

Some things Bluet made

Here is Peppa Pig making dinner

And here you can see 'Big Emmet and Big Stylewyld' in a 'lovely flower garden'

Texas Blue Bonnets

If Bluet's Mum had been born in Texas, chances are she would have been called 'Blue Bonnet', not Bluet (Full name 'Texas Blue Bonnet Corse Collins'). She has learnt all about Blue Bonnets (the Texas State Flower), where she was also told not to pick them, but nothing was said about sitting in them, so here is Bluet doing just that. She told us it was like a bath.

Wildlife

Last weekend we went to a water system designed to prevent flooding that doubles as some kind of wildlife haven in the outskirts of the city. We saw a toad and some grasshoppers, and Bluet ran around happily (and far away from us). She has limitless energy for running around outside these days. Then as we were leaving Bluet picked five wild flowers, and gave them to Emily (above).

 

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.

Last Week's News Today

I guess we are really busy these days as I haven't caught up with last weeks activities yet. On Saturday we went to Imagination Playground, some kind of hippy utopian playground where children are encouraged to explore their imaginations through play with giant blocks and water features independent of adult interference. Bluet got so wet and we were so unprepared that Emily had to go round the corner and buy new clothes for the journey home. Bluet loved every minute. We are going back on Sunday morning.

On Sunday we spent some time in the park, where Bluet looked at the flowers, and ran around. Then  we went out for Emily's birthday where Bluet was extremely well behaved for 3 hours, entertained by drawing, and throwing things on the floor of the establishment we frequented.