It's still hot in Texas...

but the water coming out of Barton Springs is definitely not warm.

And one more photo, just because...

Look at my little Nico! He's all grown up (and all bruised up, but that's another story). Hope his smile makes you smile too.

Our latest experiment...

The Es have enjoyed being scientists for the past few weeks as we've watched our tiny tadpoles metamorphose into frogs. The last couple of days have been especially exciting, because they're sprouting legs all over the place. It was difficult to get a good photo, but the one below shows a few of the stages: on the bottom right is a large tadpole with only a tail, on the bottom left is one with a tail and two back legs, and then right in the middle is one with all four legs and still a little stub of a tail (if you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see the details a lot better).

The vase/aquarium sits right in the middle of our kitchen table, and we had a long discussion today at lunch about when they technically become frogs. Egan says the ones with little tail stumps are already frogs, while Ella says they're not frogs until the tail is completely gone. Anybody have a definitive answer?

The long-awaited zoo post

We're enjoying the cool weather too much to spend lots of time inside on the computer, but I know if I don't hurry and get these up, I never will, so here they are. (The first few pictures are mine and then there are several from Janie. I'm sure you can see the difference in quality. :o))

::Egan and Janie on the carousel::

::Egan touching the parakeet when the zoo worker wasn't looking::

::Nico after a couple of hours of being pushed around the zoo::

::Dad and Egan before we went in::

::Ella feeding a giraffe (I think this was her favorite part of the zoo)::

::Nico before he got too worn out::

::Egan on his pony ride...I think her name was Sunny::

::Ella on her pony ride...this one was named Amiga::

::Ella carefully feeding the parakeets::

Fishing over Labor Day weekend

We hiked to a pond near our house twice last weekend for fishing trips. The first evening was mostly a scouting trip. Dijar only took his fly rod and managed to catch a few sunfish. It was enough to interest Ella and Egan in going out again the next morning.

The next day, Ella managed to catch one sunfish all by herself and both of the Es got to reel in a few that Dijar hooked for them. Then we pulled out the big guns (cheese) and caught a few catfish. Hope you enjoy these photos from Dijar's phone.

::Nico was more interested in running away than the fish, but he did pause for a few seconds the first night to take a look::

::Egan was very interested in touching the fish, but not so interested in being patient and actually fishing::

::Ella and Egan were excited about the size of the catfish after catching bluegills all morning::

Have I managed to catch up yet?

Not even close. I have, however, managed to somehow get caught up in going through all of Ella's shoes and clearing out those that no longer fit (what four-year-old wears a size 12 besides my big-footed princess?) and culling and reorganizing three bookshelves full of childrens' books in the playroom. Those things, along with finally uploading all of the vacation pictures, have given me a slight sense of accomplishment today.

There's no way I'd subject you to all of the photos at once, so we'll start with those from our hike at Garden of the Gods (aka "The Red Mountains" in Ella-speak).

:: Fearless Ella the rock climber ::

:: Nico hitching a ride up the cliffside ::

:: Egan, Ella, and Dijar at the "summit" ::

:: Egan and Ella in a cozy nook ::

:: Nico's makeshift hat (that stayed on for thirty seconds, tops) ::

:: Egan (the self-proclaimed mountain goat) looking for handholds ::

:: Dijar showing Egan how it's done ::

:: Nico and I finding a cool spot in the shade ::

:: Mom brings her own shade :o) ::

More to come when I get a chance...next up is the zoo trip.

Back from vacation...

...and still trying furiously (and maybe futilely?) to catch up with unpacking, laundry, etc, while keeping up with the everyday stuff. Spent two+ hours dealing with our new dental insurance this morning--how hard can they make it just to find a single dentist who isn't part of some chain conglomerate? Anyway, that hasn't left much time for getting photos from the camera to the computer and then on to the blog. My plan is to get started on that while the kids nap (if I don't collapse with them), so maybe you'll see some vacay pics by tomorrow. Au revoir...