Hamilton Pool Preserve

Another beautiful Sunday, another fun hike with friends.  This was our first visit to the Hamilton Pool Preserve NOT wearing swimsuits.  Hiking little over 2 miles brought us around the swimming hole with a dead end into the Pedernales River.

 

8 years

A great birthday weekend...cupcakes at school, showing off his disco moves with 7 friends at the annual school talent show, a victory on the court Saturday morning, and a party with his best of buds.

 

Happy 8th birthday!!

 

Enchanted Rock

We headed out west of Austin today with some friends for an early birthday celebration...somebody turns 41 tomorrow!  First stop was a late lunch at Coopers BBQ then off to Enchanted Rock to burn off all those calories.  The mild weather kept the Sunday crowds away so the place was quiet.  We easily hiked to the top then decided to take the "not on the map, through the boulders and caves, must crab crawl on the steep rock or you will slide to your death, but it was so worth it way down."  Definitely our best trip to this state park yet!

Techbots

The boys participated in their 2nd Junior FIRST Lego League this weekend.  The challenge for 2012:  Super Seniors...interview a Senior Citizen and either develop a solution to a problem they might have or research a product that has changed over their lifespan. 

Our dear Grandpa Frank was their chosen senior and the boys decided to elaborate on the changes of the air force from WWII to today.  

The only requirement for the model was to have 1 moving part.  The Techbots had 3 and even used a simple computer program to run the demonstration.

Basketball Season

 My favorite time of the year...and we are now down to only 1 son playing the sport :(

This morning we had the early game and played the other undefeated team in our league.  Who would have guessed the final score?  22-22!  Even though we were down 2 of our top players due to a baseball tourney, the Eagles played as a team and almost won.  It was a nail biter but we are all happy with the outcome!

All Around Austin

We love having a weekday off of school in the winter with spring-like weather.  Minus the horrible Austin allergy season we made the most our of MLK Day by exploring Austin, new places and old!

First stop, 9th Street BMX park.  It has been a while since we visited and the smaller ramps are now a piece of cake for the boys.  They are still too chicken to try the tall ones so they used them for climbing instead.

Second stop, Baylor Street Art Wall.  Just a short bike ride away, we found walls of graffiti art.   

1 mile up the Shoal Creek bike path we landed at Pease Park.  This place has turned into our annual MLK Service Day destination.  Task:  remove nandina (and not so easy!)  Blood, sweat, and tears (literally)...we were beat.

Final stop, Hut's Hamburgers...serving Austin the best burgers and milkshakes since 1930.

Happy New Years ~ 2013

After surviving a roadtrip to DFW and staying 3 nights in 3 diffferent houses, we escaped to the farm to ring in the new year with our best of friends.  3 families, 9 kids, and 4 adults in a one room farm house on a cold and wet holiday does not get any better than this! 

 

Hikes all bundeled up, homemade shirts for 2013, time capsules, fireworks, s'mores, hunting for critters, and counting down until midnight (only the dads made it) made some of the greatest memories.  Here is to a wonderful year with many more!