A Muddy May

We couldn't get enough of the Brown Eyed Susans so we ventured out again after some rain storms to see if we could find any streams to play in.  I would drive by this field almost every day while leaving Circle C to run errands.  I always wanted to just pull over and run through these fields.  I know it sounds strange, but I've got a lot of Maria Von "Trappness" running through these veins.  Either that or Laura Ingles from Little House on the Prairie.  Sometimes a girl's just got to frolic!!

You can tell it had just stopped raining because the sun was peeking out to lighten up those flowers but the gray skies still remained.  I was totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the earth that day!

The kids weren't too excited about the possibility of "frolicing" through fields with me.  They think I'm weird.  But when we found some HUGE muddy puddles down the path, they changed their attitudes completely!!  Muddy puddles are the BEST!!

Some of these pictures remind me of the illustrations from my favorite children's book Each Peach Pear Plumb.  

Each tree, bush, gorge, I spy Georgie Porge!!  

We love our little adventures!! 

We continued searching for puddles as the rain kept pouring down.  

George and I love walking up to a nearby cul de sac where we always find puddles in driveways and potholes!  Here he is with his trusty old stroller again.  This stroller is basically a member of the family!

Then one day, a BIG storm came.  Bigger than any other we've had here this month.  It rained and rained and rained. It rained so much we got a swimming pool in the backyard.  Then all our newly planted sod was inundated and killed.  No more beautiful green grass!

We took cover in our homes and watched the news.  Downtown Austin was under water in many parts and people were needing to be rescued all over the place!  It was looking bad throughout Texas and especially the Houston area.  Their highways shut down and in our neighboring town of Wimberly, many people were killed by the floods.  A small family in a cabin was swept away and died. It hit a little too close to home this time.  

When the rained FINALLY stopped for a few hours, we ventured out to see the damage.  Our neighbor's thought it would be fun to check out the bridge where we had been a few days prior "frolicing" through the fields.  We weren't the only ones with this idea.  It was a viewing party at the Circle C bridge!!

Everything was pretty flooded!!  

Many of those pretty wildflowers, now under water. 

The boys wanted to check out more puddles, so we found them a safe spot where they couldn't be swept away!!

The rain brought out all sorts of exciting creatures.  One of our neighbors spotted a baby alligator near the veloway and if Chase and I went on scooter rides at night, we saw tons of big toads hopping around in the street.  Kind of sad, but during the day, George and I would drive around on the scooter to find all the toads that had been smashed in the road.  Those chubby little toads need to hop a little faster to get out of the way!!

Usually we feel guilty filling up our enormous bathtub while living in this normally drought ridden state of Texas.  But all the rain was to be celebrated with the biggest bubble bath of all.  Jets included!!

My heart in 4 quarters!!