Sebby is 6!

Sebby turned six this summer, on June 20. For his big celebration, we decided to take a family trip to a real water park, something the boys have never done before. We drove into Houston to play at Splashtown for the entire day - riding a group raft through twisting tunnels, playing on the pirate ship and in the wave pool, and - best of all - swimming along in the current of the Lazy River. There was a period of thunderstorms in the middle of the day, during which no one was allowed to do any of the rides, but the kids had so much fun that the rain was quickly forgotten. 

Due to the nature of water parks, we didn't have a camera on us for most of the day. However, I did get this nice shot of the boys in the car on the drive home:

On, around, before and after his birthday (who can remember?), Sebby enjoyed opening his gifts. 

Bow and arrow from mom and dad

Fun treasures from Grandma Kate

Blowing out the candles

Fun b-day cards

More fun cards!

And new toys and games from Grandma and Grandpa.

I've been collecting a list of cute sayings from the boys, stretching several months back. Here you go!

Kid Talk: Sebby

"I like the slime kind" - Sebby, talking about "lime" yogurt.

Misha was reading a heading aloud from a science textbook: "What is 'force'?" Sebby immediately responded, "You know what the Force is! Remember Star Wars??"

We passed a cement truck with its spinning barrel, and I asked Sebby if he knew what it was for. "It's like sidewalk all mixed together," he said. "Kind of like frosting."

"Don't wipe your hands on your shirt!" we always warn Sebby as we see his hands headed for his newly-donned clothes. "I didn't!" he protested one day. "I wiped them under my chair!"

One evening, I asked the kids if they wanted to play a game (as we often do). On this particular day, involved in an adventure with Misha, Sebby answered politely, "Well, we're playing dragons, but you and Daddy could play Uno or something."

Sebby learned how to swing on the monkey bars this summer - something he has been trying to do for quite some time so he could be like his big brother. After an evening of monkeying back and forth, he examined his smarting hands and said in great joy, "Misha, look!! I got the blisters!"

During our visit to Kent and Connie's farm (more on this coming soon), we had the wonderful chance to see their goats. I asked Sebby if he knew what a baby goat is called. I could see him visibly concentrating, trying to remember. "Oh yes, yes, I know! It's called .... a child!" He was *almost* exactly right. :)

We learned a while back that by age 20, the average person has already lost half of their taste buds. At some point this summer, when we were eating some delicious cherries, we encouraged Sebby to try them. He didn't like them, but he wasn't too worried about it, saying, "Maybe when I grow up - when I lose some of my taste buds."

Kid Talk: Misha

As for Misha, he continues to make us smile with his vocabulary. For instance, he saw a cockroach crawling up our wall and exclaimed, "Oh no, it's dreadful!" Another time, when I asked him if he wanted some tuna, he replied rather archaically, "Yummy, yummy, indeed! I think I shall!"

When I bought new mouthwash, Misha asked, "Can I gurgle with this?"

We rarely go out to eat, so common restaurant names are not particularly familiar to our kids. When we stopped recently at Taco Bell (on the way to the water park, in fact), Misha kept asking for ice cream. I told him I didn't think Taco Bell really featured ice cream, but he insisted, saying we had even taken an ice cream tour there. Then I realized he was talking about the Blue Bell ice cream factory.

Every so often, we find that Misha has some unexpected gaps in his knowledge, due to going to school in a foreign country from ages 5 to 8. For instance, a little while ago we discovered that he couldn't name all the months in order. Sebby was only too happy to teach him the "Months of the Year" song that he had learned in kindergarten!

Sadly, our betta fish (affectionately called Alpha) leaped to his death from his too-full fish tank. Shortly after, I found the fish in a ziplock bag full of salt. Misha informed me that he was mummifying him. May he have a happy afterlife!

Both boys at the Growing Place for the summer. :)

Mm, there's nothing like a good shake.

To the Bat Cave, Let's Go!

Ever since we discovered that we live within a few hours' drive of the largest bat colony in the world, we have been meaning to make the trip to the outskirts of San Antonio to see it. Bracken Cave is home to millions upon millions of Mexican Free-Tailed Bats. Just how many is hard to say, but some estimates claim 20 million plus!

Our first planned trip was flooded out after extreme rains at the end of May, but we were able to reschedule and make the mid-June overnight camping event. The cave is on private property, owned by Bat Conservation International, but a very affordable membership includes a "member night" viewing. I was quick to snap up the night which had camping included, as I was eager to see not just the bats' exodus into the night, but their dawn return as well. We borrowed a tent from one co-worker and a few sleeping bags from another, and we were in business. Finding the cave was not as straight forward as we had expected ... so we arrived slightly later than the others, but still with plenty of time to join in the nature walk before the bats' exit.

We passed by the cave in the late afternoon sun on our walk, to return later in darkness. We were pleased with how close we could sit.

The wildflowers are beautiful!

The old guano mine still stands on the cave's roof. Bat poop has a secret ingredient once used in making gunpowder: potassium nitrate, aka saltpeter.

We me this impressive crab-like spider on our nature walk.

As the sky darkened, our group gathered around the cave. One of the tour guides - with opportune timing - found a walking stick and let everyone take a look. I had never seen one outside of an aquarium before. He's huge!

Soon we could see the bats swarming around the mouth of the cave, preparing for their nightly feast. Eventually, their circle widened until they were looping the entire area outside the cave, and they finally took off in a wide stream of tiny winged bodies, heading out and behind the cave to catch tons (literally) of mosquitoes, moths and other pests.

Due to the darkness, my photos aren't that great, but it's enough to get an idea of the sheer number of bats. Bracken is more than just the largest bat colony - it's the largest known concentration of mammals. The bats roost here from about March to October, where each mother gives birth to one pup, then migrate 1000 miles to the south to winter in Mexico. As many as 500 bat pups can huddle together on one square foot of the cave.

After a short time, we walked to the other side of the cave and watched them fly just a little ways above our heads. Misha and Sebby caught grasshoppers and tossed them upwards, convinced they were feeding the bats. We could hear the soft hum of their wings as they continued to pour out of their cave. It takes hours for the cave to empty.

Once it was too dark to see, we returned to our camp, where the guides so generously provided not only a toasty campfire, but s'mores as well!

It was so hot and stuffy in our tent that we left the rain fly off for the increased circulation. And that was how I came to be dashing around in my underwear outside of my tent in the middle of the night as the rain hissed down while I tried to attach the fly, only to have it snap back in my face. Repeatedly.

Eventually I must have fallen back asleep on our dampened blankets, because all too soon our guide was calling us gently to wake up. It was still pitch black out, about 5 a.m. And still raining. Misha and Sebby wouldn't budge, and Josh was content where he was. Though waking up wasn't what my body wanted to do, I was determined to get what I had come for, so I straggled along behind a small group of the other early risers. The rain was not intense, but it was enough that I was completely soaked in a fairly short time, as I had not thought to bring even so much as a long-sleeved shirt.

Slowly at first, then in great numbers, the bats swooped in. I had been hoping to get better pictures in the morning, but by the time the rain stopped, most of the bats were already home. You can see the ghost-like wings palely outlined in the mouth of the cave.

With only the occasional bat straggling home, I started back to the tent, where I met Misha and Josh. Misha hadn't even realized that I had tried to wake him up earlier. Though disappointed we had to pack up and leave so quickly, the kids enjoyed seeing the bats. 

Rather than go into San Antonio, we decided to head straight home and relax with the last bit of our Sunday, especially since we were in sticky, dirty clothes. Besides, we felt like we had seen the best part of San Antonio already - the bats!

Summer Projects

Here is a blur of what we've been doing since the end of the school year and into June:

Sebby's preschool Easter egg hunt in a nearby park. :)

For a school project, Misha had to design his own city, determining what social services, living options, parks, and rules he would provide. He decided to focus his city on being "green;" his residents traveled by bike, by foot, or by zipline, as no cars are allowed in Kulaville. Also, most buildings have solar panels on top, and the city has four windmills on the edge to power it as well. We all had fun pitching in.

Building the city

Help from the parents

The finished city!

Since our kitchen table was buried in cardboard and construction paper and popsicle sticks, we ate supper that night on the floor on our picnic blanket.

Misha's report about his city.

As a 3rd grader, Misha was subjected to state testing at the end of the year. These are the notes he wrote for himself, a collection of advice from teachers - and us.

Sebby having fun in preschool with his buddies.

Sebby's preschool drawing. Me: Aw, how sweet, you want to be a scientist like Misha? Sebby: Yep, those are bombs!

An adorable bracelet Sebby made at school. The "Z" can be interpreted as an N.

We sent cookies to Sebby's preschool for his last day with his school-year teacher.

An art project of Sebby's that I particularly like.

In the final edition of Misha's school newsletter, he wrote about - what else? - cool summer experiments to do.

As far as fun outdoor creatures we have come across lately, we bring you:

a massive katydid Sebby discovered clinging to the front of our car

a baby katydid I discovered at work

a super-sized snail with serious slime

a very cool lizard on the fence ... not just an anole, but a bumpy, textured relative of ancient creatures.

a little possum in an outdoor trash can

... and a large gulf coast toad that Sebby found!

Holiday fun:

Father's Day gifts the kids made at school - a coffee mug from Misha

and Sebby's Special Sauce, a barbecue-ish concoction that looks much better than it tastes.

Misha's Mother's Day card to me

plus a breakfast of pancakes! Not pictured: a flower in a jar from Sebby.

And other random summery photos:

Beads on the balcony

Reading

Designing shirts

fire hair

Picnic in the Frankie Carter park

We recently bought a used Clavinova!

Another picnic, of which we have only horrific memories of mosquitos attacking

Yet another picnic, this time a grill-out

the grill master

Misha reunited with his robot

Pink-cheeked Sebby after a busy day

Sound-asleep Sebby in a chair

The fun of hair gel.

Sweet sleepers

Card players

One sock on and one sock off

Spirograph fun

Pool fun.

Sebby the swimmer!

Me and my long hair.

Boys and laptops

Blanket tents

A real tent we borrowed for our trip to San Antonio to see the bat cave... Stay tuned.