Brazos Bend State Park

We used the kids' day off from school as a chance to visit Brazos Bend State Park, only an hour drive from our house.  I was super impressed!

For one thing, I'm obsessed with alligators and crocodiles.

 We went with our good friends, the Farrars (well 4 out of 6 of them). 

Before lunch, we did about an hour hike. 

We saw lots of birds in the air...

and the water.

And the highlight for me was the alligator we saw swimming on top of the water. 

He swam toward us.

And then he sat and looked at us for a while before submerging slowly.  Super cool.

 We saw several others as well.

And cool views all around, even though it threatened rain the whole day.

Mike and the girls (minus Olivia, who stayed home sick with Momma).

Ducks, which Isaac was very worried about (yelling, "look out, ducks!") until he saw so many of them that he stopped worrying that alligators would eat them.

There was a cool watchtower to climb.

A view from the top.

And, of course, other gators to spy.

We ended that walk with photo opp. on a stump.

(Abby was playing "Lord of the Rings" and is being Arwen, with her bow).

After lunch, we headed to the visitor's center, where the kids got to pet a baby alligator and see bones, snakes, spiders, and other exhibits. 

5 little monkeys, swinging in a tree.

And then we tried another hike.

This one was really pretty, even though the trees are still dormant.  But there were no gators, and since the rain was threatening, we bailed early.

But not before spotting a large group of turkey vultures flying overhead. 

And giving Isaac some cute time with his friend, Heidi.

(sigh, insert maternal wishful thinking here...for the future, of course.)

We tried to get one last photo opp. with these cool vines.  

But Grant ended up getting his finger smashed (and then bonked his head into the vine as he ran wailing to Dad).  

So this is all we got!

I really liked this park and I will be going back many times now that I know it exists, and only an hour from our house!