babies meet the alligators, alligators meet the babies

With family in town for Labor Day weekend, we decided to take the kids out for their first hike. There are several reasons we hadn't done this earlier: 1) Houston is REALLY hot this time of year, even at night. 2) Getting out the house with two babies is quite complicated. 3) Because the babies had a hard time getting started with breastfeeding, I was afraid of being away from the breastpump for more than 3 hours. 4) Making milk for two babies wears me out.

We were able to leave the house at about 9:00am. Surprisingly, the weather was not too hot. We went to Brazos Bend State Park, and we walked around 40 acre lake. It is a great park with lots of walking trails and trees covered in Spanish moss. It is also a wonderful place to bird watch and see alligators. The bigger alligators (10-14 feet) are easier to see in the spring, but we still were able to see several medium sized (4-6 feet) alligators and probably over 20 little ones.

Then while some of our group enjoyed touring the visitors center, I fed the babies under a big, shady tree on a park bench. (This mobile breastfeeding is great, it is ready anywhere and anytime.) After working up an appetite, we went to the Swinging Door and had great Texas BBQ. You gotta love a BBQ place that serves baked beans and potato salad as "vegetables".

When we got home, the guys watched football, I took and nap, and the grandmas and Zaley went to the mall.

It was a perfect Texas day.

Max in the carrier with mom.

Maya taking a nap with dad. The blankets were used to shield their fair skin from the sun, not to make them sweat more than they already did.

Small alligator lurking in the mossy water.

The lake was covered with huge lily pads and flowers.

lake powell slideshow

lake powell with the mercers

Last week, we spent several days at Lake Powell with the Mercer family. I grew up spending many days at the lake waterskiing, kneeboarding, and wakeboarding. We spent enough time waterskiing that I have often joked that I waterskiied before I was born (in my mother's womb, although it's probably not likely since I was born in April).

When I was growing up, my family would make at least one trip to Lake Powell every year, but recently we hadn't been on a family trip to Lake Powell for several years. So when my parents and siblings purchased a timeshare on a houseboat, we all got excited for a trip back to Lake Powell. We filled up the houseboat and enjoyed a wonderful time together. And Alisa experienced her first trip to Lake Powell.

-Lonnie

the stars at night...

We went to an Astros game on Saturday night with some friends from church. They had company tickets and we sat right behind the backstop (well ok we were about 15 rows behind the backstop, but I still flinched when the ball hit the net). I think I could really enjoy baseball if I always had such good seats and good company.

We also learned something special about Texas, after singing the typical 7th inning "Take me out to the Ball Game", everyone continued standing and sung with even more energy "Deep in the Heart of Texas". I didn't record the event because I was in such awe I couldn't get my phone out. So I have posted someone else's record of the regular event. But next time I will be prepared.

We felt like we were in Peewes Big Adventure.
Yes, we really are in Texas.

We didn't bring the real camera (only the camera photo) so the photos are pretty bad. But posts with photos are so much better. :)

The view from our seats!

At the end of the game.

guate slide show

My first trip to Guatemala was in the summer of 2000. I went with as part of a BYU field study project. I lived in the Mayan vilage of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. I feel in love with the people, the land and the complexity of cultures.

I've gone back several times since; working for the national literacy organization, working to start a fair trade buiness and just to visit friends.

This slide show is of some photos taken during various visits to Guatemala over the past 7 years.

The slide show is way too long and choppy in places, but it has some good photos of some wonderful people.

We have some friends coming over tonight for dinner who lived in Guatemala about 30 years ago. I wanted to show them some of the people and places that I love in Guatemala.

(to turn off the rustedsun blog background music scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click the pause button on the sonific player)

-Alisa

remember the alamo

My parents were in town for a visit this week. We had a great time going to NASA, playing games, and going out to dinner. We also made a road trip to San Antonio for the weekend. We had a great time exploring the old missions, strolling along the river walk, and eating good Mexican food.


Mom, me, and Dad inside the courtyard surrounding the Alamo.

Lonnie and me in front of the Alamo.

San Antonio's Riverwalk is a beautiful area right in the middle of the city. The Riverwalk is lined with restaurants, pretty gardens, and interesting architecture.


Sparkly pinatas in the Mi Tierra restaurant.
Mexican culture is more openly displayed in San Antonio than in Houston. Part of the difference is because there are so many cultural backgrounds in Houston that the Mexican culture is part of a panorama of many cultures rather than the focus, as in San Antonio.

The Mision San Jose is the biggest and most beautiful of all the San Antonio missions. They call it the Queen of the missions.

Although many of the buildings are in ruins, the chapel is still used today.

My favorite guy and me in front of the chapel.

Me and my mom in her Southern Bell sun hat.

My parents were in town for about a week. It always feels so quiet when they leave. My parents never stop going. Because none of their kids live near them, they are constantly traveling to be around their kids. We have only lived here in Texas for five months, and they have already come to visit twice. My parents have always shown a great example to me of how important family is.

summer concert, old friend.....

Summer Concert Series at Bayou Bend. Bayou Bend is an amazing old home with beautiful gardens that was donated to the city of Houston by a woman with the unfortunate name of Ima Hogg. Luckily she didn't let her unfortunate name destroy her sense of self worth, because she amounted an amazing antiques collection and built the most beautiful gardens that I have ever seen. The jazz music was great. I love finding little city treasures.



Even though it was past 6:00pm it was still very warm outside. Fortunately, this was the one day all week that it didn't rain. We had sprayed ourselves down with bug spray and managed to avoid getting eaten by mosquitos.



While we were at the concert we met up with my friend Michelle, who was in town visiting her sister. I taught Michelle in the MTC welfare program several years ago, before she served a mission in Venezuela. We had a very nice visit, and it was so great to get caught up.

gator adventures

Alisa standing very close to a large alligator.

Some photos from a recent trip to Brazos Bend State Park, where real alligators are on the loose and you can walk around their habitat. The gators were pretty scary at first, then we realized that even the little kids were walking right past them, so we gained the courage to stay on the path and keep walking.

We love going on adventures together.