Because of the dry weather we’ve been having, it hasn’t been a very good year for bluebonnets in Texas. On our trip home from Houston I saw a pretty decent field of them and decided to pull over. The only problem was that Jill and Asher had just woken up from naps so getting Asher to cooperate for photos was a little challenging to say the least.

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In the end we got a couple of photos, even though the bluebonnets weren’t the greatest.

On Sunday, we went over the Ron & Kristy’s for Colby’s farewell. Colby gave a great talk and we mingled over at their house afterward for brunch.

After most of the other guests left we congregated upstairs for an exciting round of Rock Band where everyone was able to get in on the action.

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I mostly stuck to drums, thanks to Jill’s willingness to work the foot pedal for me. It was a fun way to wish Colby farewell for the next few years.

On Saturday, Jill was invited to the University of Houston to present her ongoing research about visualizing patterns in terrorist data during the CombinaTexas conference.

Her presentation went extremely well even though Asher and I weren’t able to attend (something about 2 year olds at an academic conference wasn’t working) so we went outside and played in the fountain.

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After the conference Jill was asked to present her research at the National Labs in Sandia over the summer where she spent 2 weeks working last year.

As part of our urban exploration adventures, Asher and I decided to head down to San Marcos to check out the remains of an abandoned military hospital in the city’s historical district. As it turns out, someone set fire to the place a few years ago and all that remains is a fenced in grassy area where the building once stood.

So instead of cool photos of a creepy abandoned hospital, we decided to go waste some time at Texas State while Jill was in class. Asher was, of course, immediately drawn to the fountain outside the student center.

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As you can see, his fun drew a bit of a crowd and he even caught the eye of a few college girls who came to play with him.

Over the Easter holiday, we had the opportunity to go camping as a family for the first time ever! The driving force behind the campout was a previously unbeknown Kyle Ward campout, so we figured we’d give it a shot.

While the evening brought the usual fare of campfire songs (though sadly no ghost stories) the morning broke from tradition with a great-outdoors-style Easter Egg Hunt.

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Minus a little trouble coaxing Asher into sleeping in the tent, the experience was a lot of fun, and definitely the first of what will likely be many campouts.

The oncoming of spring brings two unfortunate inevitabilities: taxes and yard work.

Since we just finished filing our taxes our attention has turned to beautifying the yard. Thankfully the weather has been nice and Asher has been more than eager to do his share around the house. Here are a few snapshots from our progress.

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Now if we can just get him to water the plants as much as he waters the dirt.

Visits to Aaron and Katrina’s place are always fun. Because Aaron just added a wonderful plasma TV to his house, he still had the oversized box that it came in lying around.

Asher was immediately drawn to the infinate adventures that are to be had in an empty cardboard box, so one thing led to another, and next thing you know, we're riding in the box down a flight of stairs.

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Thanks to Katrina for the photos!