Austin Aquarium (June 21, 2019)

Fox, Otis, and Papa Tom at the stingray pool.

Land shark!

Otis and Caelen with the iguana and its handler.

Fox's boa

Otis pets a shark

So many turtles!  No snapping turtles, thank goodness.  Otis asked.

Rocky Raccoon (June 20, 2019)

Rocky likes cat food.  Great photo, Otis!

Visiting the Horns in Waco (June 20, 2019)

Fox, Otis, and Emma at Papa Rollo's pizza

Before dinner, Emma met us at the Mayborn Museum where we all practiced on spaceflight simulators.

In 1978, the first fossils of 26 mammoths were found near Waco.  The mammoths had attempted to save juveniles from a raging river by lifting them with their tusks.  But when the earthen river banks collapsed, the mammoths perished.  Fox and Otis rest atop copies of the fossils and watch a video about the mammoths.

The mammoths were 14 feet tall.

Fox, with her fox tail, and Otis with a Texas longhorn.

Otis as Austin hipster (June 19, 2019)

Otis used Wizard Tamyra's glassless glasses to sport an Austin hipster look.

So hipster to hit Torchy's Tacos at closing time. 

Lockout Room with Otis's cousins (June 19, 2019)

LaWanda's cousin Tamyra manages the Lockout Room.  Tamyra's brother Vernon, who moved to Austin about a month ago, and his son Caelen, joined us in attempting to solve the clues in our quest to become wizards.

Tamyra, as the teacher of the wizards, and Vernon's daughter Isabelle 

Wizard Tamyra gave us a little extra time to capture the chalice.  The wizard team included Tom, Otis, Isabelle, Caelen, Niyah, Vernon, and me.

Urban Air (June 18, 2019)

Otis and Papa Tom got some air on the trampoline before dunking the basketball.

Fox on the Ninja course

To the top of the climbing wall!  I climbed a different wall.  

Inner Space Cavern and Chuy's (June 17, 2019)

Inner Space was discovered in the early '60s during construction of Interstate 35.  Even 50 feet below the roadway, you can hear rumbling traffic if you listen hard.

When the guide turned off the lights, we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces.

Zebras live outside the cavern.  How many zebras do you see?

Amon joined us for dinner at Fox's favorite restaurant, Chuy's.

It's Otis time! (June 16, 2019)

Otis flew all by himself from Portland to Austin. 

Screen time at bedtime.

Happy Father's Day! (June 16, 2019)

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads in our family! (photo by Brandy's camera in December 2017, Westlake, Texas)

June 16, 2019

Otis is on his way, all by himself!  We'll pick him up tonight.

Fun with Fox (June 14-15, 2019)

We attended Fox's end-of-week gymnastics camp performance on Friday.

Fox and Violet the Hamster play in the bathtub.  Why?  The sides are too slick for Violet to climb and we can shut the door to keep curious Zephyr out.  In this case, curiosity would kill the hamster!

Fox helped Papa Tom pick peaches before the blue jays or squirrels got them.

Practicing with the Sony PXW-Z280 (June 11-13, 2019)

The main thing I've learned is that I need to practice a lot more!  Austin's public television station is like a lending library for camera equipment.  The 3-hour certification class helped but I'm going to watch a ton of YouTube videos about how to use the camera before I check it out again.  In July, I'll be attending workshops on music licensing and composing for film and how to use Adobe after effects.

Amazon hub at Gregory Gym (June 10, 2019)

Needed to return an Amazon order and decided to try the hub at Gregory Gym on the UT campus.  As I entered the gym, I expected to hear the thuds of basketballs and squeaking tennis shoes and inhale the aroma of sweaty gym socks.  Not so!  Not only was this very modern Amazon hub just inside the front door, but a spiffy Starbucks was too!  Oh, and the gym was air conditioned. My, how things have changed since my college days.

Sunflowers (June 2019)

We added Claret (red) sunflowers to the front garden this year.  We're hoping the sunflowers will attract some of Austin's wild monk parrots.  There's a parrot nest on a light pole about a half mile from our house.  Will the birds find our sunflower seeds?  Are they too full of French fries from the Whaatburger dumpster to check out what we have to offer?

Honeybees like the flowers.

Storm (June 9, 2019)

Tornado warning, high wind gusts, pouring rain, thunderclaps.

Post-storm sky.  Red sky at night, sailor's delight?

Peach promise fulfilled (June 2019)

This peach tree came up on its own, probably from a pit left on the compost heap.  This is the first year it's produced. Papa Tom beat the squirrels and blue jays to most of the peaches!

Visitors (June 2019)

El Mariachi, who apparently lives a block away, likes to vacation at our house.

This beautiful butterfly likes our cosmos flowers.

The best way to start the month of June (May 31-June 1, 2019)

Happy surprise late Friday, May 31.  Joyce and Emma were in Austin for a friend's high school graduation.  We met and visited until after midnight.  Beautiful way to usher in the month of June.

Fostering monarch caterpillars (May 14-June 5, 2019)

For three weeks, we fostered five monarch caterpillars, raising them from the size of a half inch of pencil lead to full-fledged butterflies.  While Nature prepares them to thrive outside, being fostered in the habitat protects them from predators.

Our fifth monarch emerges and hangs from its chrysalis.

Butterfly wings need to dry for a few hours after emergence from the chrysalis.  We placed Monarch outside in the habitat to transition.  Zephyr was way too interested in all the fluttering.

"Why can't I play with the butterfly?" We moved Monarch to a safer place.

Plotting.