Biking at Brazos Bend State Park

On January 17th we finished all our basketball games in the morning we had the afternoon ahead of us and 3 energetic boys to try and entertain. So, we loaded-up the mini-van and went to Brazos Bend State Park for a picnic and a bike ride. The week had been cold (for Houston) as we had high temperatures in the high 50's and low 60's so when it warmed-up on Saturday we were all anxious to get out of the house.

Brett, Ryan, me and Jared having our picnic lunch.

Jared and Ryan playing on a tree by the Visitors Center.

Ryan, Lori, Jared and Brett with their bikes on the trail.

Jared, Lori, Ryan and Brett taking a break from the ride.

Ryan and me getting ready to go.

Ryan, Jared, me and Brett ready to hit the trail.

We saw 6 alligators this trip but they were all far away and since we only had the small digital camera with us we were unable to get any pictures that were worth posting. By the time I cropped them to the point where an alligator was distinguishable the picture was blurry. That is the downside of traveling light. Now that the kids are bigger and Ryan has his trailer bike, we were able to go on a longer bike ride on trails we had not ever been on before and where it is too far for us to hike. It was a really fun trip and something we need to do again in the near future.

Thanksgiving with Andersons - Brazos Bend State Park

The Andersons came from San Antonio to see us for Thanksgiving and we were very happy to have some company to enjoy the day with. The kids were really happy to see Sarah and be able to play with her rather than being with just us boring parents for the day. In addition, shortly after Thanksgiving the Andersons got confirmation that they will be moving to Germany so they will not be here in Texas with us for much longer. We were very happy we could spend some time with them before they leave the country and we will not be able to see them as often.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went on a hike at Brazos Bend State Park. Both Brett and Jared needed to go on a hike for Cub Scouts and it was a great day to be outside. Here the kids are playing on a vine.

Sarah and Brett

Ryan and Jared.

It was a good day to see alligators as well. Lynn was a little nervous about it and did not seem to think hiking with the alligators out in the wild rather than behind a fence was a really great idea despite my assurances that we do this all the time. Lynn was really funny as he worried about what could happen and what my plans were if different scenarios were to happen, like "What if two alligators had the path blocked and cut off your escape?" I assured him that alligators were not that smart and if you left them alone, they would do likewise. He did not seem to think that was adequate and continue to worry and formulate potential scenarios. None of them happened and he did not have anything t0 worry about.

Sarah, Brett, Jared, Ryan and Lori by an alligator, although you cannot see him in this picture.

Lori, Ryan, Brett and Jared with an alligator in the background. I circled the alligator so you could see him in the small picture.

Lynn, Sarah and Debbie with the alligator. They are not as comfortable posing with the alligators as we are.

Ryan, Brett and Jared with another alligator. I circled the alligator so it would be easier to find in the picture.

Taking a break from the hike.

Lori, Sarah, Brett, Jared and Ryan with an alligator and turtles on a log in the background.

The alligator and turtles sunning on the log.

The kids on the big stump we regularly stop at. It is irresistible to climb.

Jared and Brett petting the baby alligator at the nature center.

Mother's Day, Brazos Bend

I have been a bit of a slacker the last couple of weeks and I have not posted anything in a while. I apologize to both people that look at my blog. Last week is kind of like a lost week to me so that week does not count. I woke-up on Monday (June 4th) morning shaking with the chills. I had a high fever and a massive headache all week and even made a trip to the E.R. as a result of the illness. It was a bad week so I did not get a chance to post anything. This week I am feeling better so now I am going to try and catch-up on a few events in the past and post some pictures.

We had a nice Mother's Day at our house. This is a picture of Lori and the boys on Mother's Day morning. Lori received a very nice telephoto-zoom lens for her Cannon digital camera. I tried it out and it is great, but I have to stand wayyyy back to to take a picture in the house.

To try-out the new lens in a place where it will actually be useful, we went to Brazos Bend State Park the following Saturday. This is a picture of a bird that caught a fish. We watched the bird as it was swimming before it jumped on the branch and it was quite a sight. We had trouble figuring out what it was because all we could see was it's neck and head bobbing along. It looked sort of like a snake with a fish in it's mouth.


We packed a picnic dinner and stopped at one of the Piers and had a little something to eat.


This is a close-up of Jared, Lori and Brett at the picnic table.

While we were eating a colorful bird was spotted in the distance. This is where the new telephoto lens comes in handy. With the regular lens Lori would not have been able to get this picture.


I think I mentioned this was a biking trip, which is why the helmets. It was an evening trip and we thought we were too tired to hike around, so we loaded-up the bikes and we rode them around the park. That is a big alligator in the background.

On of the hazards of a bike ride is someone might crash. That someone is typically Jared and he did not disappoint us this trip. Here he is modeling his skinned knee for us. The problem is Jared has outgrown his little bike but he still does not want to graduate up to a larger bike, which we have available to him. I think by the end of the summer we will have him riding a bike more his size and hopefully we will be able to avoid some of these crashes.

Brazos Bend

Last Saturday we went to Brazos Bend State Park, otherwise known as The Alligator Park, to hunt some alligators and shoot them with our camera. We have not always been successful in our hunt for alligators but this trip was a winner and we saw 16 alligators, 3 turtles and many birds. There are some wood piers on one of the lakes and we went out on it to take a look when we heard a sound underneath it. We looked through the cracks and there was an alligator under it and he did not like the noise we made by jumping on the pier. I was able to record the sound on the video camera but unfortunately I do not know how to post that. Even though I cannot share what we heard that day, here is a sampling of what we saw.

This is an alligator that was out swimming in one of the lakes.

This alligator was off the path a bit down on a swamp area.

This is one of the turtles we saw sitting on a log.

This was the first alligator we saw sitting on the trail that day. He was a big one and we were able to get some good pictures.

Here is the whole family with the alligator in the background.

This is a close-up of the big boy without the family in the picture. Remember, there are no fences between us and the gators.

I got the video camera out to take some footage of the big boy and he decided he had his fill of being photographed. So, he walked across the road and into the water. It kind of freaked us out when he got up and started moving. There are signs to keep track of small children and pets so the alligators do not get them.

This is a picture of one of the trails that is lined with trees with Spanish Moss hanging from them.

A family picture with the trees and Spanish moss.

This is a picture of one of the lakes, which is full of alligators, from a lookout point.

We walked from one picnic/parking area to another picnic/parking area where there is some playground equipment to have lunch. Lori decided she was too tired to walk back to the car so I went with Brett and Jared and left Lori there with Ryan. Ryan played on the playground equipment and chased squirrels while Brett, Jared and I hiked back. As a result, Lori and Ryan missed out on seeing many of the alligators. This is Brett and Jared with a little one that was sitting on the trail. We tried to sneak past him but when we went by he headed for the lake.

This is a close-up of the little one before he headed for the water.

This is a larger alligator that was sitting by the bank waiting for a small dog or child to come by. You can see him behind Jared and Brett.

Brett is pointing out the alligator in this picture.

Jared wanted his own picture with the alligator as well.


Jared got tired on the walk back and so I carried him for a little way.

This alligator was a big boy sitting by the side of the trail with his mouth open. It could be argued that this was the best alligator siting of the entire trip and Lori and Ryan missed it.

This is a close-up of the big boy with his mouth open. He has some impressive teeth.

Another picture with Brett and Jared with the big alligator in the background. They are feeling a little nervous and it shows.

A parting shot of the big one showing his teeth.

Brazos Bend State Park II

Continued from the previous post ...

This is me demonstrating the art of tree climbing. The picture does not provide the proper perspective of how high in the tree I am, but the kids were impressed. It is nice to have kids that are still young enough to impress.

Jared, Brett and Ryan under a dead tree branch. I have to be in the picture again to hold Ryan so he does not fall off the log. Right before the picture was taken Ryan fell down and hurt himself while we were walking and we did not want him to fall again.

Due to the wind and cold weather, the alligator sightings were rare. We did see a couple swimming, but none were sunning themselves on the bank where we could get a good look at them. Following our hike, we went to the Visitors Center and the place was packed. They were having an Earth Day Celebration and there were booths and activities for the kids to do. Even though we did not get to see very many alligators, we had the chance to pet a baby alligator. This is Brett and Jared doing just that.

In addition to petting the baby alligator, we had the chance to pet a corn snake. I really do not like snakes very much.

In addition to the snakes and the alligators, the kids had a chance to hold a turtle.

This is Jared putting the turtle back.


They had a rock climbing wall set-up so the kids had the chance to try it out. This is Jared and Ryan getting ready to do some climbing.

This is an action shot of the kids climbing the wall. I am mostly pushing Ryan up the wall, but he was having fun.