~MAY FLOWERS~ (Matt titled this)

Hello, again! Since all three of us were in the fetal position with a horrendous stomach flu, I never blogged last week. But here are the pictures I would have put on if I did.

 Grandma and Gunny made a trip down to San Antonio to visit Mary and Wayne, and since we live on the way we were lucky enough to have them stop by for a quick visit. The last time we saw these wonderful people was when Bennett was about 4 months old, so we had lots to catch up on. 

One day last week Matt decided to give me a "Bennett Break" and took the crazy kid fishing. Mostly I think Bennett ended up throwing rocks in the water, but they had a great time being together.

The rocks. Probably a less efficient way to catch fish, but if it worked for the cavemen...

So that was last week. This week, as mentioned before, Bennett was sick Sunday but was mostly recovered before the day was over. Matt got sick Monday night, so Bennett and I spent all day Tuesday staying as far away from him as possible. But to no avail, as I literally kicked the poor guy out of his recovery bed Tuesday night to take care of Bennett while I suffered through the next 24 hours. Thursday morning we were all feeling close to normal, and by the time the weekend rolled around we were ready to be back out in society. Our home and laundry will take several more days to recoup as fully, however.

Thursday night was the Killeen Rodeo opening night and it is free to Military. Bennett and I went last year and had a great time, so we decided to check it out again this year with Matt home to go with us. They fed us dinner and everything (military families) but the bratwurst in a tortilla was an extreme letdown from last year's fantastic catered BBQ. Especially after having the stomach flu. Bennett didn't seem to mind too much though, as he devoured his. I am gagging just thinking about it. (P.S- I look like a homeless person in these pictures. Sorry. Did I mention I had the flu???)

 This is the First Cav team getting ready to perform at the rodeo. Matt was walking by and happened to see his buddy Captain Richardson, who also just happens to be the commander of the horse detachment.

Bennett checking out the steers. He decided he wanted to ride one of those "baby cows" as long as he couldn't ride a bull. I told him I had ridden a baby cow before and it HURT (Hazard Family Reunion 2003) but I don't think he listened.

He finally settled for riding a pony...but only if he could do it by himself, and only if he could do tricks while it was moving.

We are going to spend a lot of time in the hospital in the future if he keeps this up.

Friday morning we packed up the car and drove the 45 minutes to Colorado Bend National Park for a day of hiking, swimming, and camping.

Bennett and Bear were both very excited for their first "official" camping trip (aka: not just in our backyard). Since Matt is in scouts (forever) it seems that every free weekend he has, he spends camping with the boys. So this was our weekend to camp as a family. But alas, it was not to be. When we got there, all the sites were full and there was no room for us to pitch our little tent. But the fact that laying on the ground at nearly 8 months pregnant sounded less than comfortable to me anyway kept our spirits high, and we decided to still do all the activities we had planned, but just go home at the end of the day. It was a win, win for everybody.

 The first thing we did was hike into Gorman Falls. It was about three miles in and Bennett did a great job walking most of the way. We only carried him once when it became so rocky that he was going the pace of a snail with a limp. Other than that though, he did great and kept us all entertained with his little made-up songs the whole time.

 Matt and Bennett, walking and singing about all the pretty yellow flowers. I love these boys.

Goreman Falls. I told Matt that this was the prettiest place I had seen since living in Texas. It was seriously like a tropical waterfall you would find in South America somewhere. Amazing.

We made it!

The hike out (and up) was a little harder for the shorter legs in our company, so Matt carried Bennett on his shoulders most of the way. All in all it was a great hike and it felt good to be outside...even if it was 98*

Once we made it back to our car, we drove a little ways to find a natural water slide area where swimming was allowed. We had to hike in another .5 miles to actually get to the pools, but it was worth it since we had the place to ourselves and the water felt SO good after all the walking.

 The "slides" were a little rocky for Matt and me, but Bennett didn't seem to notice. Oh, to be young!

At the bottom of the slides was a big pool that we could jump off the rocks into. There were also a bunch of little fishies that sort of freaked me out, but they left us alone for the most part.

When we were done swimming, Matt and I found a little day camp area and made tinfoil dinners while Bennett took a nap in the air-conditioned car. After dinner, we packed up our stuff and drove home to spend the night in our soft, comfortable beds. It was easily the best "camping" trip I have ever been on and we will be back to this Park again many times.

And now here are some other pictures, for your viewing pleasure. (Matt uploads the pictures and I just caption them and don't ask too many questions.)

Here's some pictures of our gardens. They are doing very well, and we have enjoyed many green beans, peas, squash, strawberries, and cucumbers from this one.

Here is the second garden with the tomatoes, okra, carrots, peppers, jalapenos, and onions. Bennett helps Matt out here every day, and has since learned the lingo of the gardener in so doing. The other day he told me in an almost Texan accent, "Mommy, our tomatoes are growin' good, but our bell peppers are hurting a little bit." It's like I'm talking to Matt sometimes but in a three-year-old body. I'll have little Southern boys whether I want to or not I guess...it's a good thing I want to :) 

And these are our baby birds. The story is: Last year a bird built a nest in this very spot above our BBQ and laid eggs in it...then she left and never came back and I eventually had to throw it over the fence. Well, this year the same bird (we named her Bula) came back and tried to build a nest in Bennett's toy cabinet on the back porch. I knew that once she figured out how often we were in that thing though, she would not be very happy with her choice of real estate. So I took it down...EIGHT TIMES. Talk about not getting the point! Finally, Bula must have got the message that she wasn't welcome in the toy cabinet and we didn't see her for a few weeks. Then this last week we were out on our patio when we noticed yet another nest, but this time on the shelf we have above our grill. Matt was about to pull it down when I told him I felt bad for poor Bula, and maybe she was out of the way enough this time to keep it up. Well, it's a good thing I said something, because right after I did we noticed movement inside the nest, and found six (extremely ugly, featherless) baby birds inside! Over the last week they have gotten feathers and are much cuter, and we have fun sitting on our porch watching Bula swoop back and forth bringing her babies food. One day soon they are going to start trying to fly, and then I'm not sure what will happen, but we are enjoying our new pets for now and teaching Bennett about nature. 

So that's about it. I have lots and lots more to say about life in general, and one day I am going to sit down and say it. But since our last two blogs have been ridiculously long, I think we will keep it at this for now.

Life is good :)