A good day for little birds

We have zero activities scheduled for this summer. This is not the cultural norm in Houston. When I hear about all of the zoo camps and golf camps and robotics camps and art camps and miniature horse camps and soccer camps and swim teams, part of me, naturally, panics a little that my kids are missing out. Then our Tuesday went like this:

1. we woke up at 8:15
2. they fixed their own breakfast, then played with Legos and blocks
3. I read out loud (The One and Only Ivan). They read to me a little.
4. We strolled down to the pool
5. We stopped for a nice long visit with three scissortail flycatcher babies.
6. We swam (I read my book. Kristin Lavransdatter, which I meant to read a year ago but could never find at the library. Hooray for inter-library loan!) for 2 hours until everyone was hungry for lunch
7. We strolled home, stopping again to visit with, (L-R) Peep, Little Chirp, and Cheep:

8. After lunch, I started ordering our books for school while the kids built a blanket fort upstairs. It took up their entire room, and I had to navigate a peace treaty when Helena accidentally caved in the door.
9. Then it started raining and they went outside and played in the rain with umbrellas.
10. When it stopped, we walked over to check on the babies. They were fine.
11. We went to the library to pick up some books, then to the grocery store to get some tortillas and avocados for dinner. The husband was working late so after dinner, we took a walk and saw some loggerhead shrike fledglings that let us get really close.
12. We read some books, and then they all went to bed in their sleeping bags in the fort, though Harper ended up in her bed after a few hours.

That is a good list, I think. We didn't partake in any electronic activities, which always seems like a victory. I don't know if it's better than miniature horse camp, but I know it's free, and I think we all liked each other better at the end of the day. That feels valuable.