Hyatt Hill Country

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a few days at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort in San Antonio on our trip. It's a fancy hotel, and can be very expensive, but sometimes you can get really good deals through Priceline. And it's amazingly kid-friendly - a great family destination.

This is a view of one of the pools. See the waterfall in the background? Beside it is a tunnel that leads to the Rambling River. There are several pools and a nice, big hottub with a waterfall, as well.



There's a nice playground and a sand volleyball court.

One night, the kids got to roast marshmallows at an outdoor firepit near the beach (manmade beach on the ramblin' river) and make s'mores.

Here's a shot of the beach, ramblin' river, and hotel in the background.

And more of the hotel grounds. Really beautiful and peaceful in places, fun in others. I found a nice private cove surrounded by trees and practiced my Tae Kwon Do forms there one morning.

Natural Bridge Caverns

Most Texans have at least seen the signs for Natural Bridge Caverns on your way to San Antonio. Have any of you actually stopped? We did, and Campbell told us at least 10 times during the tour, "This is so cool!" so I'm glad we went.

See the natural stone bridge in this picture? The entrance to the cave is below the bridge (for which the caverns are named). The bridge was part of what was once the roof, but most of it collapsed long ago.


These are ribbons, a form of stalactite hanging from the ceiling.

This room is called Sherwood Forest. To give you some idea of scale, the broomstick formations on the left (even the shortest ones) are all taller than full-grown people.

This area was called "Valley of the Fallen Lords". The little "lords" in the picture are small - less than 2 feet high. They made me think of large chess pieces.

I don't know what this was. I just liked the layers and colors in it - different from the monochromatic formations everywhere else in the cave.

The temperature in the caverns is 70 degrees year-round, with 99% humidity. The CO2 level is rather high. I was having a bit of trouble breathing towards the middle of the tour. The spaces were all very large, but I felt claustrophobic because of the humidity and excess CO2, I guess. Other than that, it was a great adventure. And it was worth it to see Campbell get so excited about it.

Gruene, Texas

On the way to San Antonio, we decided to stop for lunch at The Gristmill in Gruene, Texas. Gruene (pronounced "green") is a German-Texan town that is one of my favorite places to visit. Their town slogan is "gently resisting change since 1872". This particular restaurant is in an old mill right on the banks of the Guadalupe River.



Many of the tables are outside, or within walls, but without a roof.

We sat on the uppermost outside deck, with a view to a lower deck and the river down below.

One of the best things about being in Texas right now is that everything has already starting turning spring shades of green, and most people have planted flowers already.

Texas State Flower - the Bluebonnet

Here is Helene dancing at Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas.

And both kids enjoyed dancing on an outdoor stage outside of the Gristmill, behind Gruene Hall.

Our stop in Gruene was a spontaneous decision, and I'm so glad we did it!

Easter

Easter Greeting from Texas! I'm usually sending pictures of Colorado to friends and family in Texas, but this week, it's the other way around.

It is our spring break this week, and we have come to Texas for a little warmth. We're spending the first and end of the week with my parents, for a visit and some dental work. We'll spend the middle of the week in San Antonio. We're hoping for good swimming weather.

John and I had a nice run along the dam in the afternoon. Here's a picture of the dam in the distance, taken from my parents' deck.



My aunt and uncle and grandparents, who all live in Waco, came over for Easter dinner. My cousin, Claire, was also in town (from New York), so it was really good to see everyone.

When we first pulled up to my parents' house, the kids immediately saw evidence that the Easter bunny had paid a visit. So we had a fun, quick egg hunt. As you can tell from the pictures, the kids were in constant motion.

My parents' new puppy, Scooter, also enjoyed the hunt. I think he only sunk his teeth into one candy egg.

So far, it's been a really nice, relaxing trip. I'm looking forward to more of the same in San Antonio - with a few Texas history lessons thrown in for good measure.

Medieval Feast

Helene's class has been studying the Middle Ages, especially princesses and knights and things of that nature. They've got a gigantic cardboard castle in their reading corner. You can see it behind them in this first picture. The kids in this particular class LOVE dramatic play, so they're having a ball with it. They had a medieval feast last week - big chicken on a platter and all messy finger foods...




Some students from an older class came in to entertain the royal court as jesters, face painters and magicians.

Weather

They say you know you live in Colorado when you use both the heater and the air conditioner in the same day.

Here's what we woke up to the morning of St. Patrick's Day:

And here's what it looked like by that evening:

Tooth Fairy and Homeschooling

Campbell lost a couple of teeth this week. We were on the way to school one morning, when he said matter-of-factly, "Mommy, can you stop, so I can get unbuckled and get my tooth? It flew across the car." I didn't even know he was back there wiggling it! We still haven't found it yet. I hope that doesn't gross anybody out who will eventually ride in my car! :) Luckily, the tooth fairy trusted him and gave him money without evidence. The next day, Cam pulled out the other lateral incisor and dropped it in a clothing drawer while trying to put it into his tooth bank. I found that one pretty quickly, though.

Campbell's other big news is that I will begin homeschooling him after spring break. So, this is his last week of "real" school. I've often considered homeschooling and have read lots of books on it. I was just never ready to commit to it. This will be a nice two-month trial period (April and May) that will help us decide what to do next year. Campbell loves to learn and works very well one-on-one. Group settings are difficult for him if he's not interested in the subject. He does well in math and science classes because those subjects interest and challenge him. But in geography and poetry, for example, he is bored and acts out. Even in a class of only 10 students, it is hard for the teacher to differentiate every little thing and find a way to get Cam engaged in a topic he's not interested in.

I plan to begin with an eclectic style, following Campbell's lead on what he wants to learn. He is motivated and driven and has already made a list of topics he'd like to study and textbooks he's been using in school that he would like to continue, so I think this style will work for us. I also plan to recruit adult friends of mine as mentors for mini-seminars in special topics Campbell would like to learn (Powerpoint and Mixing Music on the Computer, for example).

Helene will continue in her PreK class for the rest of the year, except on Wednesdays. Wednesdays were a short day for her anyway, so it's not worth the drive to take her, when Campbell is not going, and she likes to have a break in the middle of the week anyway (8-3 every day is a long time for a 5-year-old). So, one day a week, I can homeschool both of them and see how that goes. I'll have lots of decisions to make before next school year - homeschool both, just one and have the other at public school, just one and the other at private school, just one and the other at a charter school, . . .

A Game of Cat and Mouse

While cleaning and cooking yesterday afternoon in preparation for a dinner party, I looked up to see Tobie standing at the door with an offering in her mouth. I had a hard time continuing to cook, so if you have a weak stomach, don't look at these pictures! (I was nice enough not to take a picture of the remains John had to sweep off the deck when all was said and done.)




The really gross, yet amusing, part was when she proceeded to play with the dead mouse, tossing it into the air and swatting at it.

Later that same evening, our super hunter cat showed up with a second mouse, to the great amusement (or possibly disgust) of our dinner guests!

On a more palatable note, we had a wonderful dinner party with three other families, some of our closest friends. We had eight kids and eight adults here. Each family had one son and one daughter, all blonde. Not a requirement for friendship, but an interesting coincidence! The kids all got along fabulously, and I think the adults did, too. We had a great time!!

Clothes

Both kids are rather particular about their clothes, but not in the fashion-conscious sense, exactly. Helene always picks out her own clothes and accessories that she thinks look beautiful together. For a long time, she would only wear dresses. Now, she will sometimes wear pants, but usually just UNDER a dress. Campbell will wear just about anything as long as it's comfortable. He doesn't really like jeans (too many seams and too stiff), but would live in sweats if he could.

Thankfully, both kids are not only accepting of hand-me-downs, they actually like them. We had a neighbor, Krysta, who gave Helene boxes and boxes of adorable clothes from Hannah Andersson and Gymboree, etc. We call those clothes "The Krysta Collection" and if Helene gets a compliment on them, she'll say, "Thank you. It's from the Krysta Collection." And recently, Annika has given her some great clothes, so she also has "The Annika Collection."


Here, Helene is wearing a shirt from the Annika Collection, and a sweater from the Krysta Collection, if I remember correctly. That's her friend Becca in the picture with her.

This is what Helene calls her "Zebra Love" outfit. She got it from Cookie for Christmas. And yes, those are Band-Aids in her hair. She's wearing them as barrettes.

Grammer gave Helene this dress for her birthday. I came home from a meeting the other night, and she was wearing it. John had bathed her and asked her to put on pj's. She came down wearing this dress and trying to convince him that it would be okay with me if she slept in it! Needless to say, she changed after I got home!

Just last week, Campbell got what are maybe his first hand-me-downs ever. Also really cute, good quality stuff. So, now Cam has "The Declan Collection." He asked me if we could clear out a drawer in his dresser, so he'd have a spot especially for the Declan Collection.