6.18.2009

When Bats Fly




[I'm hearing that to the tune of the old Prince song 'When Doves Cry']!

We had a sleepover the other night with the kiddoes and I think we all had a great time. I had some frozen kids' meals here that became a great dinner, interspersed with some Chutes'n'Ladders, Hi Ho Cherrio, and Candyland action. Mason wins a lot, Maya wins a lot and Grandma? Hardly ever. And no one cheats. Grandma just loses. Which is fine.

After dinner and games, we did a little tomato picking in the back yard [those plants have gone crazy -- anyone need/want some fresh tomatoes? Let me know!] Bath time in the big tub was fun [except for Mason getting some soap in his eye - -but he was a champ about it.]. Then we headed downtown to go watch the Austin bats do their thing. Mark and I saw this a couple of years ago and it really is amazing. We were a little early, so we stopped in at a new park in the area of Auditorium Shores. We had a nice little walk, some time to dabble our toes in their splash pad area [you can see from the pics that Mason dabbled more than his toes], raced up and down their big hills, and then did some dancing on the stone walls. Fun times!

Then we headed over to the Congress Street Bridge, where we checked out the views both from above and below. We decided we liked the grassy area below and didn't have much of a wait before the million and a half bats that live under the bridge came out to find food in the cooler temps of the evening. It really was amazing -- they just kept coming and coming and coming. The picture doesn't even come close to the real thing. Eventually we decided to go find some ice cream [it was still in the 90's at 10 p.m.] so we closed the evening out with ice cream at Sonic "in the middle of the night!" [Miss Maya's words].

Home then, into jammies, stories and scriptures and prayers and bed. Such a sweet thing to listen to their prayers and the things they are thankful for.

Then breakfast [Lucky Charms, juice and fruit] and then playtime with the Lincoln Logs before time to head home to get ready for swimming lessons. They got lots of reminders not to be cranky 'cause Grandma and Grandpa would love to have many more sleepovers!

Thanks, Nanz, for sharing your kiddoes with us. We loved it.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for having them! they had so much fun! although in spite of your warnings, they WERE incredibly cranky yesterday! woah nelly, we all need our sleep! but we managed. they had a blast!

Carrie and Nathan said...

They are so cute. Sounds like fun!

Jill said...

Those kids are so lucky to have such fun grandparents that live so close!

I can't believe those bats--how often does that happen?

Emily said...

What a FUN night!! I might have to invite myself over for the next sleepover :) I can't believe all those bats - WOW! I've never seen/heard of anything like that before!

Marilee said...

warm (hot) summer nights. love them!

and tomatoes? I would love to come and pick some. i planted some here and a week or so later it snowed, hopefully the tomato plants make it.

Suzanne said...

Lucky you -- lucky them. ;o)

SweetmamaK said...

fun times! I love the Bats- it's so amazing to watch. The first time I watched them I was on a date with robert adn then we watched an old silent movie, the creature from the black lagoon, they had it playing on a screen down there, while eating Thundercloud subs, SO ROMANTIC!!! Anyhoo we've been back with the kids a bunch, it never ceases to amaze me how they just start coming and go forever. I too love Sonic in the middle of the night.

Nat Lud said...

That's crazy! I've never seen so many bats. Texas just sounds more and more awesome all the time. You are such a fun grandma to do all the fun stuff just in one night! Lucky kids to have ya!

hoLLy said...

you're such fun grandparents! we loooved going down to congress bridge to wait for the "spooky" bats:) one almost flew into my head once!

tara said...

ewww. that would freak me out in a BIG WAY. maya and mason are TUFF! glad you all had a fun sleepover. you are the best grandma ever:)

Andi said...

How fun! I never got to see the bats while we were there. Too bad. Maybe someday if we ever move back (which we're both still rooting for!). Ollie has the same little Thomas book that Mason is holding and absolutely loves it!

Mia said...

I never made it to see the bats. I say we will see the bats every time we go visit, but haven't yet. Maybe next time we will go for real!

Andrea said...

They say that grandparenting is the best. You get to spoil the kiddos rotten and then send them home. How great is that? Looks like you all had a great time!