Keeping a Promise...

Well, yesterday I made a promise to the kids that we would go hiking again soon - and the weather was just too beautiful again not to keep the promise I made yesterday. So after Church this morning, we headed out again. We stopped by Freebird's for a quick burrito to fuel up, and then headed in to Bull Creek - a great little hike with a running stream and lots of waterfalls and rocks to climb on.

While Saxon and Elizabeth did not make it yesterday, we did bring them with us today. And we are glad we did - they liked it. Will and Elena continue to grow in both their bravery and their skills in climbing. Almost to the point that they make E and I nervous at what they will attempt. As they learned today - going up is easier than going down!

Even Saxon got into it. Her climbs were not as big - but when she got up, she screamed a big "Hooray!"

At one point, Saxon ran up ahead and we followed chase. When we caught up to her we found her sitting on a rock ... thinking ... we guess. Glad she stayed still long enough to capture the following picture.

A little later we came to a point where the trail crossed the creek - but there were some nicely placed cubic rocks to help us across. The bigger kids were to the other side before we could check to see if it was safe - glad it was.

Then it was time to get Saxon across. We were so careful and gingerly made it across to the other side with no incident. Whew! And when we were safely across. Saxon ran off in joy - only to slip on a wet spot and slide into a puddle - soaked throughout!

If wearing out Will and Elena was our goal -we may have succeeded. On the way back to the car - they stopped and climbed up on a big rock for a little cat nap in the sun! Another awesome day!

A Day with Daddy

We had a great Saturday in Austin.  The weather was absolutely beautiful with a high around 80 degress and a cool, nice breeze the entire day. After a great soccer game in the morning (against ourselves - the other team never showed up) - Elena and Will and I headed out for a truly "Austin" kind of day.

We first headed down to the Barton Springs area for a late lunch.  We were trying to go to a new highly recommended crepe restaurant housed in an old airstream trailer in a gravel parking lot.  While the crepes looked amazing - the wait was over an hour - no dice with kids.  But we are definitely going to try this place again (http://www.fliphappycrepes.com/)

So instead we headed to a famous burger place - P Terry's (http://www.pterrys.com/)  The burgers here were nice and quick.  The fries were excellent.  And our tummies left happy.

To work off our lunch, we then headed over and rented a canoe.  We paddled out of the spring and into the main lake for a nice view of beautiful downtown Austin.  The kids say tons of turtles and a few nice fish.  Everyone agreed that we need to go canoieing more often!

During the canoe ride, Elena kept asking if we could tump over the canoe so she could go swimming.  Not what I had in mind.  So I promised her that when we got back to the canoe rental area, we could take off our shoes and wade into the creek just south of the Barton Spring.  The cold water felt really awesome!

We were a little thirty and warm - so we we headed into the main park to see if we could find some snow cones.  Yep.  Will had lime; Elena had bubble gum; and I went for grape.  It was a perfect treat for cooling off.

To end the day, we headed over to Mount Bonnel on lake Austin.  It is a good hike to the top, but you are rewarding with an amazing view of the lake, downtown, ...  I am proud to report that my kids are turning into little rock climbers.  While I was exhausted they get going and climbing!  They made me promise that we could go on another hike soon..... (see the next post for an update...)