We just got back from almost two weeks away in Texas. We did so many things and took so many pictures it's hard to know where to begin, but here are some highlights.
First we flew into Dallas and spent a few days relaxing with Suzan, Naresh, and Mamo. We swam in the pool, had some great meals, and went to the new Dallas Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
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| Arthur reads from the Ramayana. |
Then all six of us drove to Austin to catch up with Mina, James, Maureen, Paul, Rosemary, Louis, Travis - and their new dog, Sophie.
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| On the road to Austin |
Unfortunately, Beatrice is going through a fearful phase where she's scared of everything, including hiking, swimming, and boating - she was even afraid of making smores - so all of our activities took a tremendous amount of coaxing. Here we are hiking "The Taco Trail" from Mina's house to amazing breakfast tacos at Tacodeli.
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| Psyching Beatrice up to wade across the stream |
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Arthur did not need to be psyched up.
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| Sophie! |
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| It isn't easy to get ten people smiling at the same time. |
After a few days in Austin we loaded up again and drove to this beautiful house on the Llano River in the Texas hill country. There we spent a lot of time swimming in the river, sitting by the fire, and eating.
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| Travis by the riverside |
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James and Louis relaxing
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| A little unsure about swimming in the river |
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| Arthur's favorite activity was throwing rocks in the river. |
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| Mina takes the kids on a nature hike. |
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| Floating Travis |
During our time in Llano we also scaled
Enchanted Rock, described by the Texas Parks and Wildlife website as "a huge, pink granite boulder that rises 425 feet above ground." Beatrice was terrified and crying the whole way up - I had to carry her for long stretches - but as soon as she got to the peak she was so, so proud - she's been telling everyone back in L.A. that
she climbed an "enchanted mountain."
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| It was very windy up there. |
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| B wasn't so sure about smiling. |
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| View from the top |
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| Wildflowers on the rock face |
We saw a tremendous number of animals on this trip, including deer, rabbits, raccoons, armadillo, lizards, turtles, snakes, crayfish, hawks, vultures, owls, tarantulas, and many more fish, birds, and insects. Dev and Paul even encountered a six-foot-long swimming snake in the river.
Back in Austin, we also visited our friend Jascha's family farm where we met his chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, donkey, and horses. I asked Jascha's father a barrage of questions about running an organic and humane farm, and Louis got to ride a tractor.
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| Petting goats |
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| Louis goes for a tractor ride. |
Suzan and Naresh got some great photos of us all swimming in the river and some good family group shots, I'll post them soon. We also took a wonderful glass-bottom boat ride, though it didn't photograph very well.
The highlight of Arthur's trip was eating. His new favorite foods are barbecue ribs and queso. He also ate four hot dogs at dinner one night - which makes sense considering how incredibly busy and active he was all day, every day. I think this trip was the most fun he's ever had.
On our last night in Austin we took the kids to the beautiful riverside lawn of the Four Seasons to roll down the grassy hill and wait to see the nightly procession of bats. Beatrice even seemed to recover a little of her bravery and joined in the rolling.
I was so happy to see how well all four kids got along on this trip - Rosemary and Beatrice have developed their own relationship, and Rosemary also adopted Arthur as her special charge on this trip, making it her job to see that he was always safe and happy. Even Louis, who can be shy, told Mina that he hoped Dev and Arthur would stay in Austin forever.
Leaving Texas devastated poor Beatrice (in fact, she tried to hide in Mina and James' house so she wouldn't have to go home) and she still asks when she'll see Nana, Nani, and her aunts, uncle, and cousins again. Until then, at least we have some wonderful memories - and about 500 photos...
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