Brazos Bend State Park

 To start off the new year, we visited Brazos Bend State Park. They hosted a fun, interactive hike around one of their lakes that day. The kids enjoyed the little stops along the trail with the park rangers. Ashton found a broad-headed water snake in a big tree trunk. The park ranger was impressed she could spot it. I was grateful for two things: 1) The snake was deep down in the trunk and 2) It wasn't poisonous.

This park is notorious for alligators everywhere. We typically see a ton in the water and along the trail. This time, we didn't see any adults. Instead, we found a huge "nest" of baby alligators about two feet from the trail. The kids could get pretty close, but we couldn't see the mother. There had to be a dozen baby alligators all piled together. It was cool to see.

I love that Lydia is slowly getting old enough to do fun trips like this again. She sat in the hiking backpack for some of the trip. Otherwise, she walked a bunch.

The little girls climbed to the top of the observation tower. I fed them gummy bears to keep them from climbing over the top.

Where the snake was found.

Gemma was pretty scared to climb herself. Thankfully, Joseph was brave. I didn't want to go anywhere near the snake.