Texas Bluebonnets & Travels with Flat Stanley

Today was a beautiful day to be out and about in central Texas. Here is Dallas, Noah, Savanna, and Bailey in the Bluebonnets after the Palm Sunday service at church. It has been an annual tradition of mine to take snapshots every Spring in the Bluebonnets. I developed a love for wildflowers in the Spring of 1993 when I had to spend many 3-day weekends alone my freshman year at Texas Woman's University in Denton. I bought a book, so I could go out on the university grounds and identify the many wildflowers growing about the campus. It was so much better than being cooped up in the dorm all by myself (I did not have a car). I took pictures of myself for the first time in Spring 1994 with my roommate, Kelly, my sophomore year at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville off of Hwy 19 near Bearkat Blvd. I have pictures of Dan and I (his sister, Monica, was with us taking pictures) in another patch of Bluebonnets down that same highway in 1995 after we had been dating for a year. I try to find a new spot every year. I have only missed a few years in between either because of the weather being bad for blooming or life being too hectic to get out. This is a great year for Bluebonnets! They are blooming beautifully right now. This is a field off Dell Way close to the intersection of Mays:

This is Flat Stanley. He traveled with us everywhere today. Before coming to live with us, he traveled around the United States with a college student from Auburn University named Taylor. It is a project Noah is doing for his 2nd grade class. Taylor made a scrap book of her travels across the United States with Flat Stanley, and Noah has to do the same. He was in several feet of snow in Park City Utah in December, and he was in cactus and Bluebonnets with us in the 80 degree Texas heat! So far he has been to Alabama, South Carolina, Utah, Idaho, and Texas.

Off 2222 in Austin is Mt. Bonnell. Here is the stairway we had to walk up to get to the apex. I carried Bailey on my back in a carrier, Dan carried Savanna part of the way, and Dallas and Noah took turns carrying my diaper bag - they could barely stand it! But the views from the top were worth the exertion!

Savanna and Noah with Flat Stanley at the Mt. Bonnell dedication rock.

Mt. Bonnell overlooks the Colorado River which feeds Lake Austin, Town Lake, and Lake Travis.

Flat Stanley in Austin Cacti off Mt. Bonnell Rd.:

Flat Stanley driving up to the capitol down Congress Ave.:

The state capitol building of Texas:

Dallas, Noah, and Savanna at the front doors of the capitol.

Looking up into the dome from the center of the building. It says "TEXAS" around the star at the top.

Flat Stanley "shaking hands" with president George W. Bush.

I am on level E2, which is an extension of the capitol building, taking this picture of Dan and the kids who are on level E1 which is the lowermost level of the building. Dallas and Noah are laying on a picture of the Alamo.

Here I am taking a rest on one of the benches in the center of the building just before we left. We had been taking some pictures of Bailey, so he is squinting his eyes in anticipation of the flash. Isn't he so cute?

Savanna digging in the dirt:

Dallas, Noah, and Flat Stanley in front of one of the statues on the capitol grounds:

We made this quick stop on the way back home from the capitol just for Flat Stanley. Here he is "standing" on the Round Rock in Brushy Creek right off Chisholm Trail Rd. (that's I35 in the background). The city of Round Rock got its name from this rock which was a landmark for the wagons that traveled on the Chisholm Trail. This signaled to them whether the water was low enough for the wagons to travel across the creek. If the Round Rock was under water, it was a no go! There are ruts in the rock creek bed from the wagons that are over 100 years old.

After we left the Round Rock, we headed over to the the Hawaiian shaved ice stand on Mays St. for some cooling refreshments, and then we went home. Savanna was glad to be back home and reunited with her "meenie." Whew! What a day...