Bluebonnets in Brenham, take 2

A friend of mine has two little boys. Little boy #2 is two weeks younger than Micayla. Micayla loves to play with #2 and little boy #1, who is 3 yrs old. We got a crazy idea to go to Brenham, with our kids to get pictures in the bluebonnets. Then, two other friends found out we were going (which was no problem at all) and decided to join us. So, 4 moms, 7 kids, one SUV, and one minivan (mine) headed to Brenham. It's about 1 1/2 hours away from where we all live. We'd planned (due to our children) to stop first for pictures, then go eat at a little place in downtown Brenham called "Must Be Heaven." They have pies that are g-o-o-d. Their chicken salad is also wonderful. Wish I could duplicate it. So off we went! The SUV driver felt my driving skills were a little sketchy at times, but really it is becuase of the lack of signage on major freeways that let you know that, no it isn't just the right hand lane that exits, but both right hand lanes. But the signs say otherwise. Anyone else wish they put a little bit more information on interstate signs about exactly which lane you are supposed to be in? Because what I really hate is being in the right hand lane only to find out that the exit is from the left and the sign that designates only warns me 1/4 mile before we have to be in that lane and that lane is piled with traffic and mean people who won't let a white minivan with the blinker on over because letting a minivan momma over would seriously impair their ability to get whereever they are going by oh, 4 seconds later. (Sorry for my rant.)

Ahem. Bluebonnets. Hudson and I had taken a day trip last year to see the bluebonnets so I kinda of knew where this field was that was full of them last year. Only this year that field didn't have any. So we saw a few cars pulled off at one area of bluebonnets, but they just weren't the best. So we kept driving. Boys and Micayla talking in the back, us moms carrying on in the front. We finally saw a field on our left but decided to keep driving just a little further. Alas, no further fields yielded the bountiful beautiful bluebonnets that we were desiring to place our children in. (That was quite a sentence!) So we turned back towards the field that we had seen...and when we approached, there was one lone car, one lone man photographing bluebonnets upclose. He was probably a professional. Us, not professionals. We were seriously outnumbered by our children. But we pulled off and the moms got out and discussed the field. It was beautiful...there was a great "country" fence along it that I was envisioning would provide a perfect backdrop for my now smocked dress clad child. There was just one little problem. Though the gates were open, there was a tiny little sign that said "No trespassing." As a rule follower, I argued against actually going in because of such signage. However, two other moms deduced that no police officer would arrest four moms for trespassing with their children into bluebonnets for taking pictures because then said police officer would have 7 children to watch. 4 children were 2 and under. So, we walked carefully forward only to cross the cattle guard in our flip flops and lug our children into bluebonnets when a huge alarm starting going off. You know the kind that goes off when you've just left Best Buy or some place like that and they forgot to rub your item on their countertop and then everyone stares at you even though you are holding the receipt in your hand and you just know that you are going to have to dump our your purse/diaper bag so that the security guy can make sure that you really are honest and didn't lift anything and now you make your husband carry everything out of the store so that he is the one that is stared at. (Just kidding. About the alarm. There was no alarm.) But if there had been one, my baby and me would have been hightailing it to the car. By the time we left, there were probably 5 additional cars pulled off the highway making their way into the field of bluebonnets. We apparently started something, but we didn't mean to. Sorry Mr. Fieldowner.

We took our pictures, got back into the car, and headed for lunch. Kids were getting antsy and we had to feed these starving children! So we had a nice lunch and thankfully beat the crowd. Then we headed to a nearby park to let the kids run off some of their energy only for a mini rainshower to have us all running for the cars. We got our kids buckled in and then the rain stopped. Of course. At least they got to play for about 5 minutes. We all headed back home and not many of the children (including my own) rested and took naps in the car despite their weariness. All in all, it was a great day and here's some pictures to prove it.