Spring Break in Texas

We couldn't stand the cold anymore, so we hit the road for Spring Break 2019

 back seat reading forts

First stop Oklahoma City

First time in Texas for the girls.

Cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards

Next stop: Waco.  I made them go to the Magnolia Silos.

And we also stopped by the Dr. Pepper museum for a drink.

best hotel waffle

best hotel pool

Next up: Austin and the largest capitol building in the US.  Of course.

 Playing in the Colorado River in Austin.

San Antonio

 My favorite: San Antonio River Walk

No Kerr trip would be complete without a kid museum.  This was the DoSeum in San Antonio.

And another free museum (thanks to our Science City membership): The Witte Museum

bluebells on the side of the road

We finally made it to the beach!  

We aren't great at planning ahead.  We have a general idea of where we want to go on vacations, but we usually don't book a lot of things because we don't want to be locked into being at a certain place at a certain time.  We thought we were the only crazy people who wanted to go camping in March, but on the way to the beach we had to stay in several hotels because campgrounds were full.  It turns out everyone is on spring break at the same time and everyone in Texas wants to go camping.  Padre Island doesn't have a reservation system, just first come first served and there were only a few sites left.  Whew! 

Padre Island is the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world.  It is known for sea turtles, but unfortunately the only ones we saw were in the museum.  We were a little early in the season.

It was SUPER WINDY and overcast pretty much the whole time we were there.

We saw a lot of dead Portuguese man-of-war.

Hannah made a sand turtle because I really wanted to see a sea turtle.

We left Padre Island with junior ranger badges and sunburns.  The sun came out while I was taking a nap and the girls got their first real sunburns of their lives. :( 

Camping at a lake.  I forgot where this was, but I remember how quiet it seemed after being at the windy beach.

 Dallas

Random cool playground just because it was sunny and we wanted to be outside.

 too much spinning

Our last stop was the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri.  I remember going here on a family vacation when I was about Hannah's age.  It was an age-appropriate introduction to slavery, segregation, and civil rights for the girls.

Another junior ranger badge.

The first daffodils of spring!

Basketball

Hannah joined the basketball team for the first time as a 4th grader.  All the other girls had been playing for years.  It is tough to try something new when everyone around you knows how to do it.  Basketball was also out of her comfort zone because the other girls were pretty aggressive.  Hannah liked practices, but hated games.  She was more nervous on the court than I'd ever seen her before.  She wanted to quit.  But hard things are best way to grow character, so we made her stick it out through the season.  We even made it a contest to see how many times she could touch the ball in a game.  She liked the challenge and it made the games more fun.  She became a little more comfortable playing with each game.  She relaxed.  Her coach even gave her a certificate for "best defensive player" one game.  She never made a basket and she might never play basketball again, but I am so proud of her.  Watching your kids be in uncomfortable or difficult situations and persevere through them is truly amazing.  We are watching them mature and grow into capable people right before our eyes.