VBS program

C and her friends Maddy, Ellie and Roy had a great week at VBS. One of the women in our community has lived all over the world and has all sorts of wonderful artifacts that she brings out for the kids to play with.

This year she brought a set of ong kloons- a musical instrument from Africa. The kids learned to play Jesus loves me on these and performed on the last day of VBS. Each child plays one note by shaking the instrument- the perfect thing for this crazy crowd.

after VBS

Caroline and some friends are attending VBS at the local Tiki church this week. On Tuesday I picked up all and we headed to Maddy's (next to Caroline in the top picture) to do some swimming. Three hours later we had some tired happy kidos so we are doing it again on Friday! The first two kids were in Caroline's preschool (Ellie and Roy), all three girls are in my GS troop.

San Marcos trip part 1- Aquerena Springs

The forecast said wind so we packed up and went to the Hill Country to go tubing for the weekend. New Braunfels had some flooding early in the week and they closed the river to tubers so we moved over to the San Marcos river which flows out of the Aquerena Spring.

Saturday morning we went over to the Aquerena Spring Education Center (part of Texas State University). They had a great wetland boardwalk where we saw lots of fish, turtles, birds and dragonflies. This hawk was protecting his turf. He flew off when we walked by, but landed again on the same picnic table.We took a glass bottom boat tour around the springs. Caroline is not frooping (a word C created years ago which translates as "throwing up in your mouth" ) in this picture, but is looking through the glass at the spring bottom.

After our "science" morning, we grabbed our tubes and set out for the river. Our float was about an hour and we did it twice before succumbing to hunger and heading back to the hotel for our next adventure.

San Marcos trip part 2- Natural Bridge Caverns

Saturday afternoon we went to Gruene for lunch and a quick look at the flooding on the Guadelupe river before heading to the Natural Bridge Caverns.

The caverns were incredible!! We went 180 feet below the surface to explore the rooms in the cavern and learn about how they were created. (FYI cave= one room, cavern= series of rooms) Caroline took the no touching rule VERY seriously and was our chief safety officer as we took the 75 minute tour.

Before we went into the caves, we came upon this insect. A live locust. I have only ever seen the shell from a locust, never a live one. He is one creepy looking insect!

San Marcos Trip part 3- Gospel Brunch

Sunday morning we went back to Gruene for the highlight of our weekend, Gospel Brunch at the oldest dance hall in Texas. Or as Hunter put it " We went to church last Sunday so we could eat and pray" (a song by Lyle Lovett) . Gruene Hall is a great honkey-tonk where some of our favorites like Lyle Lovett and Robert Earle Keene got their starts. One Sunday a month they have a catered brunch (by the Gristmill restaurant next door) and a performance by several Gospel groups.
The Gospel Silvertones were the headliner for this event. C was hot (no AC) and tired (too much weekend :-) ) through the group before and when these guys came on, she stood up on the bench and started doing a little toe tapping. I don't think they have music like this during chapel at Trinity.

Be prepared for crazy video. I rested my elbows on the table while filming and of course the table was doing a bit of rocking. Then I turn the camera sideways to show C, but I can't do that while filming so ... here you go.

When they started singing "this little light of mine" C got her dance on a bit more and then the last song of the morning was When the Saints go Marching in." In New Orleans, the tradition at brunch is to swing your napkin and march around the restaurant as you leave, C thought that was a great idea and joined in the parade.

Pelicans

Whenever cleaning fish, we have seagulls and the occasional heron that come to pick up the scraps. This weekend, we had a brown pelican land in the canal. I grabbed my camera and Hunter's friend started throwing scraps directly at him. This is what we saw. You can click on the pictures to blow them up.

I love having pelicans in my "backyard."

Green and Gold games

The last week of school at Trinity has several special events like honors day and citizenship breakfast. But the thing the kids look forward to the most is the green and gold games.

The school is divided into two teams (green and gold). The kids stay on the same team throughout their Trinity time. They then compete in wacky field games such as the toe marble pickup (Caroline's specialty), hula hoop hopping, spoon relays, and of course, tug of war. The trophy (with the winning team's colors) is placed near the front office for bragging rights for the next year. It is neat to see the "big kids" work with the little ones and encourage them throughout the year. Caroline and I run into two of her seventh grade teammates often and they always talk.

Thankfully Caroline and Maddy were both on the gold team. Notice Caroline is in a skirt. She has a new denim skirt with a mermaid and she didn't want to miss an opportunity to wear it to school (free dress day).

King Fishing

We took Caroline to the rigs to go kingfishing over Memorial Day weekend. With her new belt and rods, she is a champ and loves to reel them in (as long as daddy does the casting).

We started out fishing for spade fish and queen triggers (not eating fish). We would tie up to the rig and toss the bait out close to the rig and C would reel in when the bobber went under. She did this for hours it seemed!

After lunch we unhooked from the rig and I drove the boat around rigs while C and H cast for kingfish. This was Caroline's first one. She stuck it our for several more until she told us that her arms were going to fall off.

Of course this boat ride ended like all others... with both of us asleep on the deck.

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Mayfete 2010

I forgot to post these pics from Mayfete.

Mayfete is the celebration of Spring and fifth graders at Caroline's school. Each grade performs a dance for the fifth grade who then performs the May pole dance. These kids are leaving elementary school and moving up to junior high. This year the theme was island life. Songs such as Hula Baby, Hot, Hot, Hot and Surfin Safari were performed. C's group did Limbo Rock.

It was funny to see that most of the "costumes" for this theme were found in each child's closet. No need for fancy costumes when all of our students own board shorts and hula skirts.

C's partner is a boy who has been in Caroline's class since she started preschool. They are great friends and C was happy to have him back on the island this school year (he lived elsewhwere for kindergarten due to IKE).

When we were getting costumes ready, Caroline told me that Hawaiians have curly hair. We discussed this for over a week to figure out what she was talking about and then to figure out a way to make her hair"curl". So, we washed on Wednesday night and I braided it in cornrows. She kept her hair braided until Friday morning when we unbraided and very gently pulled the sides up in a side ponytail with lots of flowers (also how Hawaiians wear their hair according to C). She was really happy with it and the straight haired kids were jealous. The parents I spoke with had a good laugh since they thought I was out of town and had braided it before I left so it would be easier for Daddy.