South Austin

Dear John,

I have this new plan to spend all of Spring Break outdoors.  It's always so hot in the summer that any outdoor plans I have that don't include rising before dawn or being immersed in water turn out to be pretty miserable.

Today I wanted to try out the Botanical Gardens.

They were, first of all, breathtakingly gorgeous.

 

Secondly, they really inspired you and your sister in some careful nature observation... not of the lovely flowers and plants, but of the local doodlebug population.

At the opposite end of the Botanical Garden is the Hartman Prehistoric Garden.

 

From there, we could see out the gate to our usual parking spot for the Nature Center.

Your dad and I have these plans to take you and your sister to Disney World this summer and in preparation for the time at Disney, I thought it would do us all some good to push our walking limits, so we headed off to the Nature Center.

If I had planned on doing the Nature Center, I would have brought a change of clothes with me.  I did have a set in the car, but I warned you and your sister that if you played in the water and got wet, you would have to walk around wet until we got back to the car.

So the two of you walked so carefully.

So very carefully.

Until that first slippery spot.

And then it was all over.  I actually told your sister as she looked up at me, worried that I would be mad, "I'm over it.  Really.  Just play."  She wasn't sure, though, and the next time she fell, she called out, "Mom, are you over it?"  Yes.  Really over it.  You two had so much fun.

We ended the Nature Center at Prince John's backyard, where both of you Pavlovianly wanted dry clothes and a snack, neither of which I had.

But you made it back out of the Nature Center and all the way through the Botanical Gardens and to the car where I did have both dry clothes and a snack.

Tomorrow is Sea World and I think if you can do as well there as you did today that your father may give up his threat to hold family boot camp to get us all in shape for Disney.

Please do well tomorrow!

Love,
Mom