Our walk to school

This is Jontu and Jonev in front of our house getting ready to get Jongr from the last day of school for this school year. It is a pretty typical day, Jontu has his stick (one that he has had in his collection since sometime around January I think) and Jonev is ready to see the world from the seat of the strolley.

Along the way we generally encounter at least 2 obstacles of some sort or another blocking the sidewalk. I really don't like this aspect of our neighborhood. Most people use their garage as a basement since we can't have basements here. For our northern friends and family try to imagine where you would put all of the stuff that is in your basements if you didn't have it anymore. However it is really annoying to try to maneuver about 80 lbs of boys and stroller around said obstacles and not roll into the street.
This is one of the many reasons why we do walk though. We get to enjoy so many beautiful plants and flowers as the seasons change. This is a lovely Crape Myrtle tree, it is almost as pretty as the lilac bushes, but doesn't have a fragrance at all. They can be purple like this beautiful one, pink, or white and so many people have them. I don't remember them blooming last year, probably because we weren't out of the house much since Jonev was just a new little baby. They sure made me smile this year though.
This is a view of the bayou that we walk along for a little while, we often see turtles, frogs, snakes, fish, egrets of all varieties, cranes, and even the occasional bird of prey (hawks or falcons) swoop in and pick up a fish out of the water. To me it is a small reminder of the country life I enjoyed growing up in so much. I am thankful for our own little preserve. You will notice the big white objects in the picture, it is the water treatment plant for our neighborhood. It is right by Grant's school and it doesn't always smell the best, sometimes we hurry through this little park a little faster than other times.
This is MonNa (her Jedi name this is not the best picture of her, we were trying to hurry), she lives near us and we walk home with her part of the way. We have enjoyed planting seed pods, racing across the park, watching the animals in the bayou and talking on the way home this past year. You can see the front entrance of Jongr's school behind them. A pretty normal looking elementary school building.